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To visit Waskosim’s Rock Reservation on Martha’s Vineyard is not just to discover one of the most beautiful island hikes but also to truly walk in the footsteps of Martha’s Vineyard history.
Waskosim’s Rock is a giant glacial boulder left behind 20,000 years ago by the retreating Laurentide glacial ice sheet. It’s believed that the boulder started its journey from somewhere around the current South Shore, so in some ways it was a trailblazer for the future visitors from the Boston area who would visit and then decide to make the island their home. The boulder is 14ft high so probably weighs about 10 tons (an educated guess as I didn’t have my luggage scale with me) and has a deep cleft across one side that gives the rock the appearance of a breaching whale. “Waskosim” means “new stone” in the Wampanoag language and the rock was an important historical gathering place for the Wampanoag tribe.
Given the rock’s size and, more significantly, the unlikely event of it ever being picked up and moved, it was a perfect object to serve as a boundary marker. Thus the English settlers and the Wampanoag tribe used the rock in the 1600’s to provide a mark for the start of the dividing line, called “Middle Line”, that ran to Menemsha Pond between the Wampanoag lands and the English farms. Even today as you walk the trail you discovers remnants of the historical colonial times such as the James Allen homestead and the myriad of picturesque old stone walls. Today the imposing rock sits on the boundary line between the towns of Chilmark and West Tisbury.
Waskosim’s Rock Preservation was the first area of conservation land purchased by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. This happened in 1990 to save the land from being lost and developed into speculative housing. Rather than a sprawling development of expensive real estate we are treated to 185 acres of pristine wetlands, woodlands, meadows, ancient stone walls, paddocks and expansive vistas across the island. The preservation is also home to countless birds, amphibians (turtles and frogs) and rare flora, including cranefly orchids and sandplain flax, as well as incorporating much of the path of Mill Brook, the longest stream on Martha’s Vineyard that feeds fresh water into Great Tisbury Pond.
Walking these historic trails is wonderfully peaceful even in the heights of August and a simple joy to walk within such an area of astounding natural beauty.
Safe travels,
Simon
