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All the United States Massachusetts Freetown Profile Rock
Profile Rock is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Profile Rock

This 50-foot rock formation looked like a face that was once believed to be that of a Native American chief.

Freetown, Massachusetts

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Profile Rock in 1902   Unknown author/Public Domain
Profile Rock in 2008   Paulcourcy/CC BY-SA 3.0
  Kenneth C. Zirkel/CC BY-SA 4.0
Profile Rock, May 2017   TheDiscoveryService / Atlas Obscura User
Profile Rock, May 2017   TheDiscoveryService / Atlas Obscura User
Profile Rock, May 2017   TheDiscoveryService / Atlas Obscura User
On top of the rock, May 2017   TheDiscoveryService / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Located in Freetown State Park in Massachusetts the silhouette of what had come to be known as Profile Rock looked like the craggy visage of a man's face, and once upon a time, it was thought to be that of the Wampanoag Chief Massasoit Sachem.

The face in the rock had not always been there and appears to have come into existence sometime in the mid-1800s, likely the result of dynamite. Nonetheless, the face became revered among the local tribes who thought it was the face of the great leader Sachem, father of Philip of King Philip's War that would later take place. Some believe Philip spent the night beneath the rock the evening before he died. While the rock definitely looks like a face, it is unknown whether it looks like Massasoit Sachem.

Profile Rock was also known as the "Old Man of Joshua's Mountain," taking a name from  Joshua Tisdale, a settler that once owned a deed to the land. But no matter what you call it, the rock had garnered an air of the supernatural with local legends of ghosts, satanic cults, and murder surrounding the site. Although this is somewhat understandable considering how uncanny the profile is.

Although the rock had been considered sacred to many, given its association with a famous chief, the rock became a frequent target for graffiti in the modern day. 

Update June 2019: On June 19, 2019, after a report of recent damages to the historic rock formation, park officials discovered that a large portion of the rock formation had broken off.

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Published

December 10, 2015

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Sources
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profile_Rock
  • http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-south/freetown-fall-river-state-forest.html
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/20721
  • http://www.neparanormalresearch.com/hauntedhistory.htm
Profile Rock
Freetown, Massachusetts, 02702
United States
41.795833, -71.055

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