Inscription Rock is a large slab of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

measuring approximately 32 by 21 feet located on the south shore of Kelleys Island in

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

in Erie County, Ohio. It is situated near the intersections of E Lakeshore Drive and Addison Rd under a large shelter structure with a viewing platform and is open to the public. The rock was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1973 and was also located near a series of crescent shaped mounds thought to be created by Pre-Columbian peoples. More mounds were documented to be on the island and another rock with inscriptions was located on the north shore of the island. Unlike Inscription Rock, this boulder was

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 under ...

- likely a

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundre ...

- and engraved with two upside-down figures. However now only Inscription Rock remains since island quarry workers dynamited the petroglyph rock on the north shore.

Rediscovery

Inscription Rock was discovered partially buried in the sand of the lake shore in 1833 and by 1915, it was appearing on postcards for tourists in the area and is still a well-visited site to this day. In 1851 Col. Eastman of the United States Army was commissioned to analyze and create detailed drawings of the rock and petroglyphs. He then submitted copies to Shingvauk, a Native American with a knowledge of pictography, for further interpretation. There are over 100 images on the rock and the carvings were noted to be similar to ones used by the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

in Canada. Due to the soft nature of the limestone rock in the area, the carvings are generally believed to be less than 1,000 years old but the Inscription Rock remains one of the most significant and accessible examples of native petroglyphs in the area. Due to its proximity to the Lake Erie shoreline, it is under constant threat of further erosion by wind and wave activity.

Gallery

File:Inscription_Rock_entrance.jpg, Inscription Rock from Ohio State Route 575 File:Inscription Rock 2.jpg, Re-creation of the drawings Inscription_Rock_Panorama.jpg, A panorama of the rock

References

External links

Inscription Rock Petroglyphs
at ohiohistory.org {{National Register of Historic Places Petroglyphs in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Erie County, Ohio Tourist attractions in Erie County, Ohio Kelleys Island, Ohio