Just south of the corner of 207th and Cooper streets stands a huge outcropping of bedrock that has somehow survived the bulldozers and blasting caps of progress.
Beginning as early as 1910 printed reports of a giant fossilized snake embedded in the rock began to emerge in the city's newspapers and the idea caught on in the public imagination. Soon “riding parties,” geologists, and throngs of children began to descend on Inwood to get a look at the “creature.” For nearly a decade afterward, “The Cooper Street Rock Snake” became one of Inwood’s star attractions. Whether or not the creature was real or was just an optical illusion seemed almost beside the point…. From the New York Herald, October 13, 1913:
“The huge figure of a snake embedded in a large rock in Cooper Street, near Broadway and 207th, is attracting the attention of hundreds of persons. Since the discovery of the figure several weeks ago, hundreds of automobile parties have stopped to see the wonder. Geologists say that the snake must have been caught in the rocks during an upheaval of the earth more than 2,000 years ago.
The head and body of the reptile are plainly discernible. The figure is twenty-five feet long from head to tail. From the appearance of the figure it would seem that the snake was somewhat surprised at the earthquake, which preserved his form for the wonderment of future generations.
Steps are being taken to have the rock preserved by the Museum of Natural History”.
The "snake" was also mentioned in the Evening Post and Times, with everyone seeming to take at face value that this was what it was rumored to be: a fossilized snake.
The Evening Post even wrote up a detailed description on how to spot the snake:
“Take Broadway subway to West 207th Street; walk on 207th Street, five blocks west to Cooper Avenue (sic)—first street after crossing Broadway. There are not houses on that part of Cooper Avenue, but only limestone rocks. Now walk on the West side of Cooper Avenue, about thirty steps towards 206th Street; look at the rocks on this side and you will find in the rock about eight or ten feet above the sidewalk the distinct impression of something very much like a big snake.” (Note that they are describing traveling on the what is modernly referred to as the 1 Train. The A Train, which didn't go this far North at the time, is just now one block away.)
St. Nicholas Magazine, a children's literary magazine, eventually burst the bubble though, when they described the geologic processes that would have actually created the image of the snake:
"Their origin is as follows: the rock formation, the whole mass, is limestone – the so-called Inwood Limestone of the New York City region. Originally it lay in near horizontal beds of varying thickness and purity. Some layers were quite impure with clay and other matters that gave a banded effect in the rock. Subsequently the region was folded and became a mountainous area, and in the process all these beds of rock were squeezed and folded and in some places crumpled and twisted into fantastic forms."
Sadly, via placement of sidewalks, natural erosion and rock slides most of the "snake" seems to have fallen away or to have been covered by foliage. Personally I think I can see some small pieces of it. What do you think? Can you see the "snake?"
Because this is a residential area I made this a super easy hide to prevent anyone having to linger too long or to attract unwanted attention. I'm attaching a fairly obvious spoiler photo as well. You are looking for a fake rock.
