Split Rock – Anne Hutchinson's Cloven Stone

New York · United States · Stone formation

When Anne Hutchinson's settlement was attacked in 1643, legend says her daughter hid inside the cloven boulder – at Split Rock in Pelham Bay, the heretic prophet's spirit is said to walk beside the river that bears her name.

At the edge of Pelham Bay Park, wedged between highway ramps, lies a massive glacial boulder split into two halves. Here Anne Hutchinson fled in 1642 – the religious freethinker tried and banished from Massachusetts for preaching without men's permission. She settled with her family in what was then Dutch borderland, in the midst of the war between New Netherland and the Lenape peoples. In late summer 1643, Siwanoy warriors attacked the farmstead; Anne and most of her household were killed. By tradition, her youngest daughter Susanna crawled into the rock's cleft and survived as the only witness, taken captive and later ransomed. The neighboring river was named the Hutchinson. Hikers speak of a female figure in dark 17th-century dress by the rock at dawn, and of feeling watched from within the cleft – as if someone were hiding there still.

FAQ

Where is Split Rock – Anne Hutchinson's Cloven Stone located?

Split Rock – Anne Hutchinson's Cloven Stone is in New York, United States.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.