The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-01-27
ROCKING STONES.
HUGE 6CUtOERS THAT ARE
DEliCATElY BALANCED.
Connecticut Has Some Specimens
TO BE Proud Of---Other New Eng
land Stones Possessing Historic
Interest.

OlOglst puDllsneQ the statement lndl
he knew of less than half a dozen
Of the kind in the region noted There
are boulders enough in the New
England States, he explained, that
are set up on small bases, and some
of them are more or less ~delicately
balanced, but of genuine rocking
stones, that may be made TO rock,
it is safe to say that there are not
more of them than the number |
have named" says a Norwich
Comm correspondent.
The scientific mans statement was
published far and wide, and in three
months was contradicted forty times,
mainly by jewellers in rural towns
in all parts of New England. Three
rocking stones were reported in one
town in Massachusetts, and one or
more of them were mammoth mono
liths. Eight or ten were reported
in New Hampshire and several in
Maine, while no end of rocking
stones were located in Connecticut
and Rhode Island, since, as is well
known, these States, which evident
ly caught the greatest part of the
rocky debris of the glacial era, are
thickly bestrewn with boulders Of
all sorts and shapes. In this coun-
try alone rural observers cited not
less than n dozen or more instances
Of perfect rocking stones.
Recently an influential Mystic cit
izen has declared that there are no
less than five perfect rocking stones
in the little seashore hamlet Of
Quiambaug, near Mystic, in the
southern end Of this county. THE
quiet little village" he says, "can
boast of more rocking stones than
any other town of its size in the
United States can do. Good author
tiles say that only two good speci-
mems exist in New England, one in
Massachusetts and one at the Haley
farm, at Noank, a quaint little old
fashioned hamlet on a knoll at the
seaShore, not far from Mystic. 1t is
evident therefore that the present
ones are not well known.
But there is no doubt that they
are as excellent examples Of the
glacial period as any that can be
found anywhere. They vary i'm size
from a stone weighing three tons, on
the land of Miss Nancy J. Moredock,
to one weighing forty-five tons. on
the farm occupied by James Lord.
Another stone is found on the lands
OF Elias Davis and two on the farm
OF Ambrose Miner.
Perhaps the best specimen Of the
whole lot is the rocking stone on the
land of Miss Moredock. 1t is about
four feet long, two feet wide and
three feet high, and it oscillates
about five inches. 1t can be rocked
by the.)ressure Of two fingers. 1t is
set on a sloping ledge, and it looks
as if it could be easily rolled off and
down the hill. but the combined
strength of half a dozen men could
not stir il an inch out Of its place.
The rock has been a great playhouse
for children, and the oldest inhabi-
tants can remember the spot as their
earliest playground"
All of these rocking stones are in
the immediate ne~ighborhood Of Fort
Hill. where the one powerful and illus
trious Pequot Indians made their last
stand against the whites, in the lat
ter part of the seventeen century. n
region that is tn ickly dotted with
lonely isolated. sentinel-like, tall
boulders. At Fort Hill, near Mystic,
overlooking the ocean, the Pequots,
with all their braves, squaws and
pappooses, were gathered in their
largest and strongest fort. when Capt.
Jack Mason and his band of Puritan
braves, coming from Saybrook, at the
mouth of the Connecticut River,
stormed the fort, burned the red
mems wigwams and massacred most
of the warriors, with the m and
children who were not burned in the
wigwams.
The descendants of Capt. John
Mason's soldiers-the people of Mys-
tic and Noanck-a year ago dragged
a great boulder, with thirty yoke of
oxen, from its resting place in a
lonely pasture near the famous rock
ing stones and cut and carved il in
a handsome monolith, which they
erected, amid a great Of
people, in honor of the Pequot massa-
ere on the summit of Fort Hill. The
great boulder handsomely polished
and bearing on m Of its finished
sides an appropriate inscription in
commemoration of that mighty deed
of arms. is now one of the most on
spicuoIs objects along the Sound
shore as seer from the ocean,. 1t
weighed in the rough not less than
twenty-eight or thirty tons. In an
open meadow, near the old Norwich
Town green, two miles north Of this
city. there is a similar monolith that
was erected a great many years ago
ct the grave Of Capt. Mason.
Boulders, some of which weigh
thousands OF tons, are altogether too
plentiful in Connecticut and Rhode
Island TO have any commercial value.
but not many months ago a wealthy
Ohio gentleman journeyed to the