-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This cache was released for “The Great Northern Tier Geocaching Tournament 2009 – it is now available for any Geocachers who wishes to visit the cache after the event.
Property Description ¼ acres | Established 1953
The granite ledge known as Redemption Rock is the site of the famous release from captivity of Mary White Rowlandson. On its perpendicular face is inscribed: "Upon this rock May 2nd 1676 was made the agreement for the ransom of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson of Lancaster between the Indians and John Hoar of Concord. King Philip was with the Indians but refused his consent."
Mary White Rowlandson (1637-1711) told her own story in "The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson," which first appeared in public in 1679, three years after her capture and release. It would become a 17th-century bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic with 15 editions published before 1800. According to Neal Salisbury, who re-published Mary's narrative in 1997 as "The Sovereignty and Goodness of God," in 1653, Lancaster was a frontier town in the "wild, wild west" of Massachusetts. The Rock southeast of Wachusett Lake was a point of contact between two civilizations.
Many of New England's Native American tribes, angered by the spread of colonial settlements, the conversion of forests into farmland, and perceived injustices at the hands of colonists, joined the Wampanoag sachem Metacom (called Philip by the English) in an attempt to drive the colonists from their new homelands, in the process destroying hunting grounds, winter camps, and settlements. Mary White Rowlandson's narrative begins on February 10, 1676, when 400 Nipmucs, Narragansetts, and Wampanoags attacked Lancaster "about sun-rising." Mary, her three children, and twenty other captives were taken into "the vast and desolate wilderness, I knew not whither." After many "removes" (shifts of locations), they ultimately rendezvoused with King Philip near the present day New Hampshire-Vermont border north of Northfield, MA. Her bible was a source of comfort throughout, and her sewing skills, quickly discovered, placed her in good favor; for a shilling, she was asked to make a shirt for King Philip.
Mary and her captors returned by late April 1676. John Hoar of Concord, who had instructed and protected a group of "praying Indians," went to negotiate her release at the flat-topped outcrop overlooking a meadow where the Native Americans had camped. She writes, "Philip who was in the company came up and took me by the hand and said, 'Two weeks more and you shall be Mistress again.'" Later, a ransom was raised "by some Boston gentlemen." She traveled to Boston with John Hoar to be reunited with her husband, son, and eldest daughter (the youngest had died from wounds eight days after the raid).
This historic site was acquired in 1889 by Senator George F. Hoar, one of the founders and first president of The Trustees. It was donated to The Trustees in 1953 by the Senator's descendants, John Hoar and John Hoar, Jr.
Trails
While the reservation is only one-quarter acre in size, it is surrounded by watershed lands owned by the City of Fitchburg and is a link in the 92-mile Mid-State Trail which crosses the state from Ashburnham, MA at the New Hampshire state line, to Douglas, MA at the Rhode Island state line.
Property Acquisition History
Gift of John Hoar and John Hoar, Jr. in 1953.
I would like to thank The Trustees of Reservation for there assistance on the hide and for allowing us to place this cache on the property.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)