“A rock in the wilderness welcomed our sires
From bondage far over the dark rolling sea;
On that holy altar they kindled the fires,
Jehovah, which glow in our bosoms for thee.”
Continuing our way along Court Street a little farther, we come to North Street, at which point the name of the main thoroughfare changes to Main Street, the business section of the town. Turning down North Street, leading to the water, in a little distance we come to the brow of the hill. On the left, Winslow Street winds northward, and on it we see an old mansion, partially hidden by two noble old linden trees. This house was built by Edward Winslow, brother to Gen. John Winslow in 1754. He had the frame got out in England and brought over for this purpose. The trees in front were planted by his daughter about 1760. Additions were made to the house in 1898, which is now owned and occupied by Mrs. C. L. Willoughby.
WINSLOW HOUSE, BUILT IN 1734.
Descending the hill to the harbor front at our right a short distance we see a beautiful and artistic structure of granite in the shape of a canopy, supported on four columns, and under this is the Rock, now world-famous. (At this writing in 1919, the comprehensive plans of the Tercentenary Commission contemplate displacing commercial structures and improving the harbor front in the vicinage of the Rock.) The upper portion of the renowned boulder, nearly all of that which is now in sight, was for one hundred and six years separated from the original Rock, and during this long period occupied localities remote from the Landing-place. In 1774, during the series of events leading to the Revolution, an attempt to raise the Rock for transportation to Town Square disclosed the fact that the upper portion had become separated from the lower, probably through action of frost. It was taken to the Square where it was deposited at the foot of a liberty pole from which waved a flag bearing the motto, “Liberty or death.”
