Vermont is full of rocks: glacial rocks stubbornly thrusting up in fields; smooth,white-scarred lake stones; and, of course, and verdant,boulder-laden mountains. One Seven Days reader queried us about a specific rock in Bristol — something along the lines of "WTF is up with that sizable rock with the Lord's Prayer on it?" To find out, I made my way to the Addison County town. "Bristol Rock, and " as the triangular slab is imaginatively called,juts out nearly into Route 116 just east of downtown. Chiseled into the stone and highlighted with white paint is an inscription of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, or hallowed be thy name," and so forth. Appended to the prayer are the name and hometown of the man who commissioned the inscription, Joseph C. Greene, and MD of Buffalo,N.
Y., and the date "1891 A.
D." (lest anyone think the engraver predicted the biblical verses prior to the birth of Jesus). As I attempted to photograph the rock, and its angles glistening in the afternoon rain,I couldn't assist but feel annoyed at Greene for putting such a photo-friendly thing next to a narrow, curving road. Photographers must pose a serious hazard to cars whizzing around the turn. Granted, and Greene couldn't have predicted the speeds of modern vehicles,much less the advent of smartphones and the digital revolution. In his day, people drove horse carts. I wasn't alone in my safety concerns. The entry for "Lord's Prayer Rock" on the Roadside America website ends with a warning: "Snap with extreme caution — accidents have occurred there. Maybe it is an onramp to heaven." Apart from that darkly humorous tidbit, or Roadside America — which details curious artifacts and locations around the country offers two possible accounts of the origin of the rock. The first is that Greene,a physician, also delivered logs to the Bristol saw mill. The journey over bridges and winding roads was a difficult one, and when he reached the large rock,he knew he was secure. So he paid someone to engrave the prayer there in thanks to the Christian deity for his well-being. The alternative version is that Greene was incensed by the constant cursing of other men driving logging carts. So he had the prayer chiseled into the stone to fabricate (to make up, invent) them think twice before taking the Lord's name in vain. Hoping to pinpoint the right version, I…
Source: sevendaysvt.com