God's 10 Acres & the Deed Rock

Trudging up a mountainside in central Massachusetts one drizzly Sunday, if I'd have stopped to contemplate my mission I would have put my odds of success at about a coin flip. Dusk would soon be settling in, roots hiding under a layer of wet leaves threatened my ankles with every step, and my only directions were an X marks the spot hand drawn map I squinted to read on my phone. Besides all this, I really had no idea how big this thing was I was looking for - I could picture it being both as small as my laptop and as large as my television.

But when I finally spotted it from a distance I had no doubt this was the rock I was searching for, even though nothing in the woods indicated this was a special place.

Can you spot the treasure in this picture?

This adventure began in the year 1800 with the birth of Solomon Parsons Jr in Leicester, Massachusetts. The grandson of a reverend, Solomon himself was a religious man who in 1840 purchased a 10 acre plot of land on a hillside in Worcester with the intent of building a temple on it. He paid $125 for the property, which Google tells me in today's currency is nearly $3,500.

But here's where things get weird. Rather than recording the purchase into his own name through the city's registry, Solomon bypassed that processes and instead had the man he purchased it from, William Hall, give the 10 acres of land directly to God. How exactly did he do this? By having a 200 word deed carved into this boulder which sits within the woods of the property, where in consideration of the money received Hall is said to give the land "Unto God" through "the laws of Jesus Christ."

These weren't just some scratchings on a rock, either. The man Solomon hired to perform this task, Sylvester Ellis, carved these words so deep and meticulously that "Deed Rock" remains as clear and readable today as it was 176 years ago.

Not so enduring were the boundary markers he used to define the land, which included such mainstays as a chestnut tree, a pile of stones, and the corner of a fence.

Just in case Deed Rock wasn't a big enough clue, Solomon was a kind and gentle man but also had a touch of the crazy. Caught up in a religious sect called the Millerites (led by head crazy William Miller), this group believed the world was facing a cataclysmic end in the year 1844. To survive this rapture Solomon built his temple on top of the ten acres, but unfortunately he was a better worshipper than builder and legend says the temple was leveled by a windstorm.

Other structures have come and gone in these woods as well, and in my search for Deed Rock I found the remains of two other building, including this large foundation.

After the world didn't end in 1844 as the Millerites predicted, Solomon began selling off chunks of the property. When he passed away at the age of 93 the remaining land was scooped up by a real estate mogul who simply claimed it as his own. And although houses and apartments now surround the hill, Deed Rock and the patch of woods that hide it remain as secluded and peaceful as I imagine they were when memorialized in 1840.

This rock is a work of art that I almost feel should be in a museum. Almost. Because although putting it on display would allow it to be shared with the public, I worry that something would be lost by making it so easily accessible. Anyone could go see it simply by standing in a line.

But having to climb a mountain in the rain, not quite sure what I was looking for or even if I'd find it, then the joy I experienced when finally locating this treasure? That's a memory that will stay with me forever.

* My transcript of Deed Rock, complete with errors. Solomon was many things, but a good proofreader was not one of them:

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS THAT I WILLIAM G HALL OF WORCESTER IN THE OUNTY OF WORCESTER AND COMMONWELTH OF MASS IN CONSIDERATION OF 125 DOL PAID BY THE HAND OF SOLOMON PARSONS OF THE SAME WORCESTER THE RECEIPT WHERE OF I DO HEAREBY ACKNOWLEDGE DO HEAREBY GIVE GRANT SELL AND CONVAY UNTO GOD THROUGH THE LAWS OF JESUS CHRIST WHICH ARE MADE KNOWN TO MAN BY THE RECKORD OF THE TESTAMENT RECORDED BY MATHEW MARK LUKE JOHN THE EVANGELIST THIS LAND TO GOVERND BY THE ABOVE MENTIONED LAWS AND TOGATHER WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD THE SAID TRACT OF LAND IS SITUATED IN WORCESTER ABOVE MENTIONED THE SOUTH WESTERLY PART CONTAINING TEN ACRES MORE OR LESS BOUNDED AS FOLLOWS VIZ BEGINNING AT THE SOUTHWEST OF THE LOT AT A STAKE AND STONES BY LAND OF E DANIELS THENSE EASTERLY BY LAND OF S PERRY ABOUT 97 1/2 RODS TO A CORNER OF THE FENCE THENCE NORTHERLY BY LAND OF ABOUT 54 RODS TO A CORNER OF I FOWLER ABOUT 24 RODS A CHESTNUT TREE IN THE WALL AT THE CORNER THE LAND OF SAID DANIELS AND A HEAP OF STONES BY THE SIDE OF THENCE SOUTHERLY TO THE BOUNDS FIRST MENTIONED