Redemption Rock is a colonial-era historic site in

Princeton, Massachusetts Princeton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is bordered on the east by Sterling and Leominster, on the north by Westminster, on the northwest by Hubbardston, on the southwest by Rutland, and on the southeast by Ho ...

. In 1676, during

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

, the release of

Mary Rowlandson Mary Rowlandson, née White, later Mary Talcott (c. 1637January 5, 1711), was a colonial American woman who was captured by Native Americans in 1676 during King Philip's War and held for 11 weeks before being ransomed. In 1682, six years after h ...

(the wife of a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

minister) from her Native American captors was negotiated atop a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

ledge. The parcel upon which the rock stands was acquired by the land conservation non-profit organization

The Trustees of Reservations The Trustees of Reservations is a non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving natural and historical places in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the oldest land conservation nonprofit orga ...

in 1953, and is open to the public. Rowlandson would later write about her experience in ''A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson'', considered a seminal work in the American literary genre of

captivity narrative Captivity narratives are usually stories of people captured by enemies whom they consider uncivilized, or whose beliefs and customs they oppose. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans ta ...

s. Redemption Rock is located off

Massachusetts Route 140 Route 140 is a north—south state highway which passes through Bristol, Norfolk and Worcester counties in Massachusetts. The highway follows a southeast-northwest trajectory, running from U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in New Bedford just north of Buzzard ...

, near

Wachusett Mountain Wachusett Mountain may refer to: * Mount Wachusett, the highest point in Worcester County, Massachusetts * Wachusett Mountain (ski area) Wachusett Mountain is an alpine ski area in the northeastern United States, located on Mount Wachusett, ...

Inscriptions and markers

The inscription on Redemption Rock reads: ''Upon this rock May 2, 1676 was made the agreement for the ransom of Mrs Mary Rowlandson of Lancaster between the Indians and

John Hoar John Hoar (1622 – April 2, 1704) was a militia leader & Indian liaison in colonial Massachusetts during King Philip's War. He is best known for securing the release of Mary Rowlandson from Indian captivity at Redemption Rock. The event was de ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

. King Philip was with the Indians but refused his consent.'' The official state marker at the site, placed in 1930, reads: ''Upon the rock fifty feet West of this spot Mary Rowlandson wife of the first minister of Lancaster was redeemed from captivity under King Philip. The narrative of her experience is one of the classics of colonial literature.''

Recreation

The Midstate Trail passes by Redemption Rock. Wachusett Mountain State Reservation is 1.2 miles south along the trail. The

Crow Hills The Crow Hills, located in Massachusetts' Leominster State Forest 2.5 miles northeast of Mount Wachusett, are a single monadnock with a twin summit, and , and a high eastern cliff. The hills are a popular rock climbing, bouldering, and hiking ...

in Leominster State Forest are 1.6 miles north along the trail.

References

External links

The Trustees of Reservations.org: Redemption Rock
{{coord, 42, 30, 24.2, N, 71, 52, 10.8, W, type:landmark, display=title Rock formations of Massachusetts Landforms of Worcester County, Massachusetts Princeton, Massachusetts Open space reserves of Massachusetts Native American history of Massachusetts Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts Protected areas of Worcester County, Massachusetts The Trustees of Reservations 1953 establishments in Massachusetts Protected areas established in 1953