How Peace Rock Got Its Name
I’ve immersed myself in one location along the Vermilion River so often that by now my encounters there have a ritual to them. Each time I go to this spot I methodically check on various features of the space, many of which I have named. Peace Rock, one of the things I’ve named, is a glacial granite erratic six or seven feet in diameter that currently sticks out of the earth about five feet high. When I named it, it rose only about four feet, but the river’s meandering course in frequent floods has scoured the earth from around its base. I climb this rock frequently to survey a larger expanse of the land and river and to court peace, either by clearing or focusing my mind. The name solidified when I found the letters P-A-X spelled out in black parts against orange and white parts of the granite. I’m glad I photographed the Latin word for peace when I saw it in 2002; I can’t find the letters in the rock anymore.
Romancing Reality 