A rock, and a hard place to identify
Many readers believe the boulder in this photo is Hanging Rock, near the mouth of Ten Mile Creek near Millsboro.
Another photo from a family picnic shows the mystery rock in the background at the edge of the stream.
You would think that a rock this large and distinctively shaped would be unique. Apparently, it’s not, or perhaps it has found the ability to pick up and move frequently around the region over the past century.
Our readers have guessed this giant boulder is near Cheat Lake, near Morgantown, W.Va., or on the North Fork of Wheeling Creek, not far from Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County. They guessed it was on the shore of the Monongahela River near Fredericktown, and on the Fayette County side across from Millsboro.
One reader suggested the rock was on Crow Creek in Greene County, near the monument to the Crow sisters, who were murdered by Indians in the late 18th century. Another reader claims it is one of the White Rocks near Fort Necessity, and still another called to say the photo is of Big Rock on the Youghiogheny River, and others guess at locations in Clarksville and Ohiopyle.
But most of those who called and emailed us about the current Mystery Photo guessed the women were seated on Hanging Rock on Ten Mile Creek near Millsboro.
Proving that, however, is a problem.
Many who responded said Hanging Rock is across the creek from Ten Mile County Park, but that much of it is no longer visible. That’s because Rices Landing Lock No. 6, built in 1856, was demolished in 1965, which raised the level of the Monongahela and the mouth of Ten Mile Creek by 13 feet, according to Carol Knizer, who lived in Millsboro as a child. “I had three brothers, and they all fished from there,” she said.
I visited Ten Mile Creek County Park but could not identify Hanging Rock. The topography – the steep cliffs of jutting rock – is very similar to the photos in the O-R archives taken so long ago. I’ll have to leave it to someone else to offer photographic evidence, however.
On the advice of Chuck Stephenson, I checked out the rock along the North Fork of Wheeling Creek, about three miles downstream from Ryerson Station. The topography is right, but the rock is not. It is smaller than the one in the photo, and not the same shape or position.
Many readers were absolutely sure their hunches were right, but I’ll leave it to them to prove it to the rest of us. Email me a photo, if you’re sure. To assist you, today we’re printing one of the other five photos of the family picnic taken in the early 1900s. In that photo, the large boulder is in the background.
Look for another Mystery Photo in next Monday’s newspaper.