Odd Landforms Along the Creek

I was checking out the new version of Google Earth yesterday. This version allows the user to view earlier aerial photographs of any area for which Google has photographs. The September 2005 image (see below) revealed a landform that was not evident in later photographs.


Along the east bank of the creek, just above the South Field and downstream from the village there are large arcs that extend from the shore and into the creek. When I first visited the area with landowner Ed Edelen and team members Pete and Scott, Ed showed us what were clearly artificial ridges. He thought they might be military related, but I didn't think so, and still do not think so; but then I forgot all about them. The Google Earth image jogged my memory and my curiosity.

What are these landforms? Who created them, when, and why? Are they 20th-century efforts at land reclamation? (If they are, they failed.) Or are they coffer dams constructed to hold back the water during sand and gravel mining?

Your thoughts are welcome.

Jim