Witch Rock In Rochester

Massachusetts has no shortage of strange rocks. Plymouth Rock, Dighton Rock, the Bourne Stone, Sacrifice Rock and several other odd stones dot the landscape around these parts, and we decided to check out one of the cooler ones the other day... Witch Rock, in Rochester.

There are several genesis stories for this rock, which is off of New Bedford Road in Rochester. None of the stories I found matched my own theory, which is that the stone itself looks like a witch face. C'mon, look at the nose... and the Donald Trump hair... OK, let's see what other people say.

Depending on who you ask, Witch Rock's legend stems from either

A) Native Americans shunned the place, as they believed that evil spirits lurked there.

...or

B) Colonial-type Americans hung a witch from a tree near there, and her spirit escaped into the rock.

...or

C) Some guy owned property with a huge boulder on it. He told people that he lived near a big rock. After a thousand times of people asking "Which rock?"... he finally painted it so he could answer with an Abbott & Costello style "Yes."

...and this makes sense

D) Someone thought that it would be cool for Halloween or that it would increase their property value.

The witch hunting hysteria in Salem never really touched colonial Plymouth, and no records exist of any witch-killin' in Rochester.

The locals tell you that you can see all sorts of scary things with this rock. Mist rises from it, you can hear laughter coming from it, it glows during electrical storms, animals won't go near it, etc...

Witch Rock, and Rochester in general, make for a nice road trip. I'll be upfront, though... it's a rock. If you drive a long way to see it, you're going to be in trouble with whoever you talked into going there. This is nothing against Rochester, which is an absolutely beautiful town to drive around in.

We recommend visiting Witch Rock in the fall, when you can combine it with a drive through Rochester's awesome foliage. You want to multi-task in the smaller towns around here.

See the witch face? I can't be alone on this!

Ned Point Light In Mattapoisett, MA

We paid a visit to Mattapoisett, Massachusetts to check out Ned Point Light.

Ned Point Light is also known as Ned's Point Light by the locals. It was built in 1838 for $4500 of those 1838 dollars. John Quincy Adams was instrumental in getting the funds. It is older than Mattapoisett, which was part of Rochester until 1857. It was built on the land of Edwin “Ned” Dexter.

It was made with stones that they found nearby. The contractor (Leonard Hammond), who also owned the town tavern, didn't finish in time. Stalling an inspector at his tavern, he had a crew try to make it look finished. The inspector stepped into the lighthouse and fell through the floor, which was merely planks laid over barrels.

It used to have a lightkeeper's house, but that was floated across Buzzards Bay to Bourne, where it now serves Wings Neck Light.

Ned Point Light was deactivated from 1951-1963. It was restored by locals in the 1990s.

It isn't open for touring, other than once a week in the summer. It's 39 feet high and has 32 granite steps.

She guards the northern edge of Mattapoisett Harbor.

Ned!