“Follow the dirt road directly down to the Bay to Connor’s Brook…. Once there, look to the small brook running along the side of the hill to the left; search diligently among the rocks about 20 feet from the tide line and you will find inscribed in the rock face at tide level (the date) 1755. A long ago memento of the Acadians who camped on these shores in the winter under many privations during the expulsion.”

I’ve taken this quote from an article on a rockhound website called Bob’s Rock Shop. Brian Isfeld, who was stationed at Greenwood some 20 years, wrote the article. Actually, the date on the rock is 1775. In recent correspondence, Mr. Isfeld, who now lives in British Columbia, said in effect that the difference in dates is a typo in the article and he will make an effort to have it corrected.

About a year ago, Morden resident Gary Myers drew my attention to the rock that Isfeld mentions on the website. Mr. Myers said the rock is a mystery of sorts in that no one knows who carved the rock, when it was done, or what the date refers to. Most people who frequent the area where the rock can be found are unaware of its existence, Myers said. “I haven’t spoken to a single soul that knows anything about the rock,” Myers writes. “I was at Connor’s Brook a couple of years ago and met a lady from Kingston who told me she’s been going there for 40 years and didn’t know anything about it.”

Mr. Myers has photographs of the rock on his website. He estimates that the rock, that from the photographs appears to have been roughed out in a rectangular shape, is 24 inches wide by 18 inches high. Mr. Myers sent directions on how to find the rock, which as already mentioned is at Turner’s Brook on the Fundy shore. You can reach this site from Kingston by driving up Maple Street to Bishop Road, which in turn runs to the shore.

Mr. Myers adds that there is what appears to be a cross carved into the rock beside the date. Both Myers and Isfeld mention evidence indicating there was copper mining in the area near the carved rock. “People have told me there was some exploration for copper in that area years ago (in the ’40s or ’50s) which might explain the presence of a rock drill,” Myers said.

Getting back to the correspondence from Brian Isfeld, he writes that he’s also surprised so few people in the area are unaware of the dated rock. When he was stationed at Greenwood he often explored the Connor’s Brook area in search of rock specimens. “Few people seemed to know of the existence of the engraving on the rock,” he writes. “My understanding is that it had something to do with the occupation of the area by the Acadians in the time of the Acadians.”

Mr. Myers brought the rock to my attention in hopes that somewhere, there’s someone who knows the significance of the date on it. Perhaps the rock was carved the same year as it was dated, and perhaps not. Obviously, a lot of effort went into carving the date into the rock and roughing out its rectangular shape. If it was done as a prank, someone must have had a lot of time on their hands.