Sometimes, a Vermont-venture will bring me to parts of the state like this:
Not that I mind. I’m kind of an old-school guy anyways and try to get a basic idea of my route before I depart. And, getting lost on country roads can be a lot of fun (except for the times when it’s not) I’ve found a ton of cool things before as a result.
It was looking like the only relatively sunny day in the forecast for a while, so. I decided I was gonna make the best of it and go oddity hunting down in Southern Vermont for a lost geographical curiosity that hasn’t had publicly in near a century – but first, a stop at the Wayside Restaurant in Montpelier for some breakfast.
You won’t find The Weeping Rocks mentioned in any tourist guide. Even locals might look at you quizzically if you should ask. But in times past, puzzled folks actually made a point to seek them out and ponder whether or not their fable was true.
In the pre-colonial days, the local resident Indians – the Mahicans – confidently believed their nation and its bounteous land would always prevail, and that they could handle any confrontation aimed at them. It’s quite possible an old prophetic saying claimed that they would hold strong “until the rocks weep”. So a passing Mahican, possibly a chieftain, was surely horrified one day when moving through a rocky hollow in present-day Pownal and noticed the rocks were weeping!
Not long after, a group of Mohawk warriors crossed the Berkshire Hills on a Mohawk Trail that’s now the Mohawk Trail, and slaughtered the entire tribe.
According to a more particular chronicle mentioned in The Hoosac Valley: It’s Legends and Its History, a fleeing group of Mahicans temporarily took a breather beneath the cliffs in the Pownal hollow with Mohawk warriors on their trail, when they suddenly felt gentle perspiration. They looked above, saw the “teardrops” seeping from the rock arc, and knew their savagely executed end had come.
However, history really doesn’t authenticate the story of the extermination being foreshadowed by the rocks, but they’re still there and still weeping to this day, which really contributes to their uncanny and enchanting atmosphere. They’re in a shallow grotto several very steep feet above an obscure backroad. It’s said that water drips continuously from the rock overhang, even in times of drought.
Finding them was a bit tricky. We only went off vague and dated directions. Some wayfinding landmarks had changed in appearance or had been removed entirely.
This is a concrete stretch of old Route 7, which hugs the cliffs and Hoosic River instead of its modern, less scenic but more practical re-route. It’s signed under a different name, is still considered a town highway (I think), and is in absolutely terrible condition – we were forced to slow to a cringing crawl. The environs are stacks of trailers and various garbage piles before coming to an end in a hollow. It’s wild places like this that I wind up in when I go oddity hunting!
U.S. Route 7 was once the principal gateway to New England’s western realm, certainly the main artery into Vermont. Route 7 looks a bit different these days with the addition of the interstates and a shift in travel and tourist culture. In the stagecoach days, this stretch of old Route 7 was built over an old Hoosac-Mohawk war trail. The Weeping Rocks were once rated as a notable entry landmark into Vermont, in an area called Pownal Pass – a cleft between the start of the Green Mountains the Taconics. An old black and white photo shows a wide dirt path, rickety telephone poles and the jagged outcropping more prominent amongst an otherwise pastured landscape.
We awkwardly crept down the road a few times playing a guessing game on what we were exactly trying to look out for, which was getting the attention of a family who lives in a ramshackle house at the foot of the road. On one U-Turn passing, their little daughter opened the screen door and shot finger guns at us and squealed “pew pew”
Eventually, we resolved on a conspicuous outthrust that was more of a feature than anything else up on the slopes.
“So, is this it?” asked my friend. “There’s only one way to find out”, I decided, and I departed the vehicle and attempted to make the very awkward scramble up the banks to get a better glimpse.
Older accounts referenced the hill as Rattlesnake Ledge. That’s a danger I was glad I didn’t have to worry about, considering I was already worried about rolling my ankle, tumbling down the hill and breaking my camera.
It was a steep, near verticle climb over lots of deadfalls, pricker bushes, and sneaky earth that gave way and crumbled below my feet. My adventure partner decided to wait by the car and let me have all the fun.
I managed to get myself up directly underneath the protrusion and was kneeling almost vertically. As I tried to situate myself in a less perilous position, I felt it.
The rocks were still weeping, dripping slowly and softly from overhead.
Since 2012, I’ve been seeking out venerable examples of Vermont weirdness, whether that be traveling around the state or taking to my internet connection and digging up forsaken places, oddities, esoterica, and unique natural features. And along the way, I’ve been sharing it with you on my website, Obscure Vermont. This is what keeps my spirit inspired.
I never expected Obscure Vermont to get as much appreciation and fanfare as it’s getting, and I’m truly grateful and humbled. Especially in recent years, where I’ve gained the opportunity to interact with and befriend more oddity lovers and outside the box thinkers around Vermont and New England. As Obscure Vermont has grown, I’ve been growing with it, and the developing attention is keeping me earnest and pushing me harder to be more introspective and going further into seeking out the strange.
I spend countless hours researching, writing, and traveling to keep this blog going. Obscure Vermont is funded almost entirely by generous donations. Expenses range from hosting fees to keep the blog live, investing in research materials, travel expenses and the required planning, and updating/maintaining vital tools such as my camera and my computer. I really pride and push myself to try to put out the best of what I’m able to create, and I gauge it by only posting stuff that I personally would want to see on the glow of my computer screen.
I want to continuously diversify how I write and the odd things I write about. Your patronage would greatly help me continue bringing you cool and unusual content and keep me doing what I love!
