Plymouth Rocks!

Plymouth rocks: Okay, we have all heard about and perhaps seen the famous but unimpressive Plymouth Rock.  However, this is not the only rock of interest in Plymouth.  So far, I have found several other rocks, Sacrifice Rock, Cleft Rock, Diamond Rock, Flag Rock/White Horse Rock, Pinehills Rocks, and Turtle Rock.  All of these rocks have stories as impressive as Plymouth Rock.

PLYMOUTH ROCK

Plymouth Rock is located on the waterfront in downtown Plymouth at the foot of Cole's Hill. Could this really be "the" rock where the Pilgrims stepped ashore in Plymouth? It is if you believe Thomas Faunce.  In 1741, this rock was about to be destroyed to build a new wharf.  Faunce, 94 at the time, came forward to stop it's destruction.  Faunce's father arrived in Plymouth a few years after the original Pilgrims.  Thomas Faunce maintained that his father claimed that when the Pilgrims stepped ashore, they stepped on this rock.   Faunce was elder of the church and was the town record keeper for most of his adult life.  The rock has been moved several times and is about a third the size of the original rock.   For many years, it was located outside Pilgrim Hall Museum.  Pilgrim Hall Museum used to sell little rock chisels so people could take chips off the rock for keepsakes.

SACRIFICE ROCK

In Ancient landmarks of Plymouth by William T. Davis (1883), Sacrifice Rock is one of two rocks on Sandwich Road in Plymouth, MA where Native Americans would stop on their journeys and leave items such as branches and feathers to the Great Spirit. In 1928, Sacrifice Rock was gifted to the Plymouth Antiquarian Society.  In the 1960s, the society placed an historic marker on the rock.  The marker reads "Sacrifice Rock, Manittoo Asseinah, Indian Name Meaning, God's Rock/Plymouth Antiquarian Society".  There is nothing unusual about this and several similar rocks, other than there is a spiritual aura given off by them.

CLEFT ROCK

Cleft Rock is an interesting rock formation located in the Pine Hills (of which the Pinehills community is a small part).  The rock formation may have been used as a lookout spot by the Native Americans, and it offers a panoramic view of Cape Cod Bay on a clear day. Some day when my knee feels better, I will climb atop the rock to check out the view.  (The turnoff to Cleft Rock is almost directly across from Serious Cycles on Route 3A.)

WHITE HORSE ROCK (or Flag Rock)

Two stories on this rock of two names.  

White Horse Rock: A local legend says that in 1778 a young woman named Helen died in the surf, at what is now known as White Horse Beach, either as a suicide or searching for her lover, Roland Doane. Doane was aboard the privateer General Arnold that had gone aground and broken up in Plymouth Bay.  Helen's ghost reportedly sometimes appears on the granite boulder called "White Horse Rock."

Flag Rock:  During World War II, somebody painted a Nazi swastika on this rock. Soon thereafter, someone painted over the swastika with an American flagI has since been repainted many times.

DIAMOND ROCK

Diamond rock can be found on old Diamond Rock Road.  Good luck finding this hidden gem!

PINEHILLS ROCKS

Standing rock sculptures can be found throughout the Pinehills community.  These sculptures along with pine cones symbolize life at Pinehills.  There are a lot of similar but smaller rock sculptures popping up on many trails.

TURTLE ROCK

Okay, so there really isn't a "turtle rock" per se but this past spring, we had a snapping turtle sunning itself on a rock steps away from our back deck.  After sunning herself, she dug up my plants to lay her eggs.  Unfortunately, her eggs never hatched.  I looked all summer for signs that the baby snapping turtles left their nest, but it didn't happen.