Profile Rock

A 1902 postcard photo showing Profile Rock
Profile Rock, 2008

Profile Rock, also known as the Old Man of Joshua's Mountain, is a 50-foot high granite rock formation located in Freetown, Massachusetts just outside Assonet village and near the Freetown State Forest.

Native Americans believe it to be the image of the Wampanoag Chief, Massasoit. The Wampanoags occupied the region of present-day Rhode Island and Massachusetts bounded by Narragansett Bay to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Chief Massasoit was friendly to the early Pilgrim settlers, and established a period of peace between the two peoples. But after his death, increasing numbers of English colonists and demands for more land caused relations to deteriorate, leading to King Philip's War (named after his son Metacomet or Philip) between the Wampanoags (sometimes referred to as the Pokanoket) and the English, resulting in the tribe’s ruin.

Joshua’s Mountain was named after Joshua Tisdale who was the first to settle near the site. The mountain was privately owned for several years by former Freetown Selectman, Ben Evans, who sold the mountain to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to be used as a state park tourist attraction. Massachusetts has done little to promote the attraction, however.

In recent years, the site has been frequently vandalized with graffiti,[1][2] despite an aggressive cleanup effort by the Bristol County Sheriff.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Freetown Police search for suspects who sprayed painted their names on rocks". 7 News Boston. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  2. ↑ Wagner, Jeffrey (16 April 2013). "Residents aim to fight Profile Rock vandalism". Taunton Daily Gazette. Retrieved 5 July 2016. residents ... have noticed an uptick in debris and graffiti at the (Profile Rock) site
  3. ↑ McCready, Dan (15 October 2015). "Cleanup Of Profile Rock Almost Complete". 1420 WBSM. Retrieved 5 July 2016. the (Graffiti Unit) crew has made frequent trips out to Profile Rock ... and they’ll keep making those trips wherever graffiti is found

External links

Coordinates: 41°47′45″N 71°03′18″W / 41.79583°N 71.05500°W / 41.79583; -71.05500


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.