Sunday Rock

Somewhere between those who felt they were civilized, and those who were considered less so, there had to be a dividing line of some sort.  Otherwise how could one have told what status they held in the wilderness.  Sometimes there was little difference between the factions, but still, since the beginnings of civilization the world has been divided in some sort of class distinctions so this was little different.

When the Revolutionary War was over the State of New York had tremendous wartime debts to contend with.  It was decided to confiscate all land of former Loyalists (British sympathizers) and sell it to the highest bidder.  Thus in the latter half of the 1780s decade pioneers began to settle in central New York on this newly available acreage.  Yet it was a slow process as there were vast tracts of land to fill, and not that many pioneers to fill them.  The trend of settlement continued with those who went north along the western side of the Adirondack Mountains into the fertile valley of the St. Lawrence River which divided these lands from Canada to the north and west.  Thus the Valley was settled long before the mountainous interior of northern New York.  There, only the hardiest of individuals attempted to make a living via trapping fur-bearing animals or in the lumber industry.

Those in the St. Lawrence River Valley soon decided they were much more civilized than the riff raff of the mountains, and this is where the division of classes began.  On the northern outskirts of what is now the village of South Colton there is a BFR.  In nice terms this is a big foolish rock.  It was here that the line was established separating the heathens from those civilized folks in the Valley.  The heathens were those from everywhere and nowhere that sparsely populated the mountains no matter what their race, creed, or color.  Soon it was known as heathen rock denoting its status as the dividing point.  In later years the term heathen was somehow determined to be a harsh term, so its title is now the Sunday Rock, but the meaning is still the same.

Recently it has been named to the National Registry of Landmarks.  Previous to that it had been listed in the State Registry of Historic Sites.  It is now the only rock designated as a National Landmark.