The Monoliths (Manchester-by-the-Sea)

(Redirected from Agassiz Rock)

An 1870s stereoview depicting Little Rock

The Monoliths, also known as Agassiz Rock, is a 116-acre (47 ha) park in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, owned and maintained by The Trustees of Reservations. The park's name is from two examples of large glacial erratic boulders plucked from bedrock. As glaciers scoured this landscape, the mass of bedrock forming the hill proved more resistant than the surrounding soil, forcing the bottom of the glacier up and over the hill. The north side was smoothed and the south side left steep and rugged as the glacier broke off chunks of rock as it passed.

Little Rock is a granite monolith on one of the trails. It rests on a small jagged stone, leaving an opening below. A short distance away, other boulders lie perched on the edge of this glaciated upland. Below, in a small shrub swamp, rests thirty-foot-tall Big Rock. Its depth is unknown.

The trail to the site is a one-mile loop that passes both Big and Little rocks. Following long periods of rain the area surrounding Big Rock often floods.

History

In 1874, a group of students named this site to honor Louis Agassiz, the Harvard University professor who first theorized that the rocks that dot New England's landscape were shaped and deposited by glaciers.

Agassiz visited the site and found the erratic physical features fit his hypothesis. Prior to Agassiz's hypothesis, it was widely believed that the scattering of rocks throughout New England were the result of Noah's flood. The rock is often used as a type example of a glacial erratic.

The first parcel on the site was donated in 1957. There were subsequent gifts and purchases in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967 and 2001.

In 2020, The Trustees of Reservations announced plans to change the name of the property, citing what a news report called "increasing public discomfort with the legacy of the property’s namesake". In 2022, the rename was complete.

References

^ "The Monoliths". The Trustees of Reservations. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
^ "Agassiz Rock". Essex Natural Heritage Area. Archived from the original on 2022-03-21. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
Brown, Erika (30 July 2020). "Trustees to Drop Agassiz Name from Agassiz Rock". The Cricket. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
"What's In A Name". Manchester Historical Museum. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
"North Shore park drops name of 19th-century scientist who promoted racist beliefs". Boston Globe. 28 Feb 2022.
"Agassiz Rock is renamed "The Monoliths"". The Trustees of Reservations. 24 Feb 2022. Retrieved 28 Feb 2022.

Protected areas of Massachusetts

Federal

National Historical Parks	Adams Blackstone River Valley Boston Lowell Minute Man New Bedford Whaling
National Historic Sites	Boston African American Frederick Law Olmsted John Fitzgerald Kennedy Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters Salem Maritime Saugus Iron Works Springfield Armory
Other National Park Service units	Appalachian National Scenic Trail Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Cape Cod National Seashore
National Wildlife Refuges	Assabet River Great Meadows Mashpee Massasoit Monomoy Nantucket Nomans Land Oxbow Parker River Silvio O. Conte Thacher Island
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Assabet Concord Sudbury Taunton Westfield
Other protected areas	Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve West Hill Dam (USACE)

State parks

Parks	Alewife Brook Ames Nowell Ashland Bash Bish Falls Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Borderland Boston Harbor Islands Bradley Palmer C. M. Gardner Callahan Castle Island State Park Chicopee Memorial City Square Clarksburg Cochituate Connecticut River Greenway Demarest Lloyd Dighton Rock Dunn Ellisville Harbor Fall River Heritage Gardner Heritage Governor Thomas Dudley Great Brook Farm Greycourt Halibut Point Hampton Ponds Holyoke Heritage Hopkinton Lake Lorraine Lake Wyola Lawrence Heritage Lowell Heritage Lynn Heritage Massasoit Maudslay Moore Mount Holyoke Range Natural Bridge Nickerson Pearl Hill Pilgrim Quinsigamond Robinson Roxbury Heritage Rutland Skinner South Cape Beach Wahconah Falls Webb Memorial Wells Western Gateway Heritage Whitehall Wompatuck
Reservations	Beaver Brook Belle Isle Marsh Blue Hills Breakheart Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Dorchester Shores Elm Bank Fort Phoenix Hammond Pond Hemlock Gorge Horseneck Beach Jug End Lynn Shore Middlesex Fells Mount Everett Mount Greylock Mount Sugarloaf Mount Tom Myles Standish Mystic River Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Nasketucket Bay Neponset River Pope John Paul II Purgatory Chasm Quincy Quarries Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Salisbury Beach Sandy Point Scusset Beach Stony Brook Upper Charles River Wachusett Mountain Walden Pond West Island Weymouth Wilson Mountain
Other	Appalachian Trail Ashuwillticook Rail Trail Cape Cod Rail Trail Fort Revere Lake Dennison Recreation Area Lower Neponset River Trail Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside Nashua River Rail Trail Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail Quabbin Reservoir Southwest Corridor Park Squantum Point Park Streeter Point Recreation Area Sudbury Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir Ware River Watershed Area

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Wildlife management areas

Wildlife
management areas

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sanctuaries

The Nature Conservancy
Black Pond Bog Boat Meadow Francis Newhall Woods Grassy Pond Greene Swamp Halfway Pond Island Hawley Bog Hockomock Swamp Hoft Farm Homer-Watcha Katama Plains McElwain-Olsen Miacomet Moors Reed Brook Roger and Virginia Drury Sandy Neck David H. Smith Preserve and Fire Trail Stacy Mountain Tatkon

Trustees of Reservations

Audubon Society wildlife sanctuaries

Other
Concord Land Conservation Trust Harvard Forest Lincoln Land Conservation Trust Lloyd Center for the Environment Lynn Woods Reservation Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary Old Harbor Wildlife Refuge

Category
Boston
Emerald Necklace
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Commons

42°35′46.81″N 70°46′2.75″W / 42.5963361°N 70.7674306°W / 42.5963361; -70.7674306

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