Thursday, November 19, 2020

Ice Age Relic/Balancing Rock (Watertown CT)

Florence T. Crowell Photo Accessed from: https://www.facebook.com/334846928460/photos/a.337556648460/10157676881323461


Watertown CT Historian Charlie Crowell writes: "Before being used as a monument, this stone was known as “balancing rock.” At its original site, it sat on top of a rock outcropping and was so finely balanced that a small child could push it and to would rock back and forth, but it couldn’t be knocked over. The seemingly precariously balanced boulder was left in that position by the last ice age. The process of dragging the rock to its present site was grueling and laborious. It was done using horses..."

In a personal communication to my friend Al Conley, Charlie notes:  "Richard Sperry, owner the land where the boulder originally sat, wanted to keep it as a balancing rock even after it was moved and set up as a monument. He thought engineers could handle the job, but it never happened."

More here: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2020/11/ice-age-relicbalance-rock-watertown-ct.html

 

5 comments :

pwax said...

Must have been really grand to watch.

Curtiss Hoffman said...

Tim -
Thanks for thinking of sending me this information! Can you pinpoint the original location of Mr. Sperry's land more precisely (closer than "Old Baird Road"?

CURTISS HOFFMAN said...

More specifically, I do have one site in my inventory on Old Baird Rd., which you (Tim) told me about. It has one rock pile, two stone rows, and a snake effigy. Is this the same site?

Tim MacSweeney said...

Curtiss: That is the same site.

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