THE MYSTERY OF ROCKWALL’S WALL

ONE HOT SUMMER DAY IN THE 1930s, Don Ragsdale and his uncle motored out to Rockwall to see what some folks said was proof of an ancient city.

The rock wall, sections of which have been unearthed in Collin as well as Rockwall counties, was first discovered in 1851 by a farmer digging a well. Various geologists and architectural historians have concluded that the wall is a natural phenomenon-probably caused by injection of sand into the ocean floor that once reached all the way to North Texas.

But Ragsdale still isn’t convinced, and he’s got lots of company. The stone blocks that he and his uncle paid 25 cents to see appear to be grouted together irregularly-like brick walls. They are topped with what looks like rounded capstone. And the rock veins, which should be going in the same direction if the wall is a natural formation, do not.

Now two local architects, convinced that a walled city was once located on the hill where Rockwall sits, have gotten permission from an area landowner to excavate to the wall’s foundation. John Lindsey and Scott McCrary, who have been studying the wall since 1992, theorize that it is a combination of natural and man-made structures- the latter built thousands of years ago. They hope an archaeologistled dig, which has never been done before, will uncover artifacts that prove once and for all that sections of the wall were man-made.