1. "ROLLING ROCK"
Posted by Kat on Aug-21st-02 at 5:08 AM

http://members.aol.com/MAspeleo/rollingrockfr.html
http://members.aol.com/MAspeleo/rollingrockfr.html
[added attachments, below, as sometimes this URL Link was "not accessable"...]

There is a postcard for sale on E-Bay that has the older depiction of this rock...


In Victorian Vistas, there is a news story about the family upon whose land this "monument" rested, wanting permission to tear it down, or cart it off, or dispose of it somehow.  The city clamoured for it's staying right where it was, as it was a "landmark."

The family, if I recall, said, it's our land, we can remove it if we want!

I don't really recall the rest of the story.
I'm interested in finding out what people of the area know about this rock, and how it got there?  (Just the ONE Rock?)
Or the rest of the story from VISTAS...

http://members.aol.com/BerkMtnMan/rocks.html
for more Mass. Big Rocks...


(Message last edited Aug-21st-02  5:31 AM.)

Makes me want a glass of cheap domestic beer.Crime: Drinking a Rolling Rock in public Sentence: Rolling rock

(Message last edited Aug-21st-02  6:53 AM.)

I no longer have custody of VISTAS.
I think the story is in 1900.
Does one who has the volume care to give "the rest of the story"?

Ask Sisyphus

Gee, Harry, I accidently left that guy moving that boulder up and down while I watched SHIPMATES, and searched the Vistas book (returned) for the Rolling Rock!  Oops.

Victorian Vistas:  Fall River, 1901-1911, As Viewed through its newspaper accounts, edited by Philip T. Silvia, Jr., R.E. Smith Printing Co., 1992.

Pg. 208+
July 12, 1904
"ROLLING ROCK DISCUSSED AT A MEETING OF THE ALDERMEN.

The Rolling Rock was given another lease of life last night when the board of aldermen postponed action upon its proposed post-mortem examination.  It is evident, from the views expressed by members of the board, that the curiosity is doomed unless some dime museum man is willing to make a bid for it.  The members do not feel that there should be even the price of a drink spent on the alleged relic.

The communication from the mayor, in which it was stated that the rock could be preserved at an expense not exceeding $3,000, started the discussion.

Alderman Joseph Turner said the way he looked at it the cost would be $4,000.  The land, which it was proposed to purchase, was a quarry running anywhere from 12 to 15 feet below the grade of County Street.  The owners ask $75 a rod.  It would cost a thousand dollars to bring the land up to the grade of the street.  In addition to this, a retaining wall or suitable fence would be required, which, in the opinion of the alderman, would cost nearly a thousand dollars.  There would have to be a fence around the rock to avoid any possible danger.  The alderman said he would have no objection to this rock if it could be removed to Eastern Avenue, which was a wide thoroughfare.  As it is now the rock is 'a mess.'  The stress that has been put upon the importance of this rock was something great.  It used to roll one time when anybody looked at it, but the alderman never saw it.  The rock was no great thing.  Similiar rocks could be found, of course, not quite so round in form, all over the city of Fall River.  There was one on the west side of Highland Avenue which is certainly 300 tons in weight, while the Rolling Rock is estimated at 160 tons.  There were also a great many others.  He thought it was foolishness in the extreme to spend that amount of money on such an object.
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Alderman Draper said he was opposed to the scheme of preservation.   Most people told him that it was a public nuisance.

Alderman Patenaude said it was immaterial to him whether the rock is saved or not, but something ought to be done with it.  The rock ought not to be allowed to stay as it is, as it was certainly an obstruction in the street.  He didn't know much about the rock itself, only what he saw in the papers.  However, it appeared to be all right to spend $50,000 for parks and when it was proposed to spend $3,000 for this rock and to put a little park around it, that was all wrong.  It seemed to him that if a park was built around the rock it would be a good idea.

Alderman Turner said he forgot to mention the dwelling house on the land that it was proposed to purchase.  The cost of moving the dwelling house had been estimated at $550.  As for a park, that could be easily made on Eastern Avenue.

Alderman Ling recommended putting a charge of dynamite into the rock and blowing it to Kingdom Come[!].  There were hundreds of rocks all over town just like it.

Alderman O'Reagan thought the rock was all right where it is now.  They didn't want it on the South Park, anyway.

Alderman Kendall said it seemed to him that it would be a waste of money to spend $3,000, especially when the government had so little money to throw away.

Alderman Patenaude thought the question ought to be looked into more fully and moved that it be referred to the committee on highways which committee should ascertain the exact cost of removing the rock.

The motion was passed without further debate."
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[Editor's Note:]
"Fall River historian Arthur Sherman Phillips recorded that a geology expert back in 1841 explained how the rock would oscillate two-three inches with pressure applied with both hands.  Phillips blamed vandalism for stabilizing the rock by 1860.  A second explanation of why modern Fall River cannot compete with Cleveland as the home of rock and roll is that a foreman for the firm of Harrison and Beattie used filler to stabilize the rock in 1861 out of fear that it would topple from the repercussions of blasting out granite from the firm's east end quarry for use in Newport Railway construction."
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(con't)

(Message last edited Aug-24th-02  3:28 AM.)