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(Editor's note: This is a corrected version that provides the correct middle initial for historian George J. Fluhr.)
Did pre-Columbian ‘Pocono tourists’ leave their calling cards?
By PETER BECKER
Managing Editor
LACKAWAXEN - Over 40 years ago, an artifact was found at the terminus of the Lackawaxen River. If it were ever proved authentic, it would link this corner of the Pocono northeast with potential pre-Columbian explorers.
It would be followed four years later by another similar discovery, amazingly at the opposite end of the same river.
The August 13, 1970 edition of The Wayne Independent carried a page one story and photo concerning a large piece of sandstone with strange etchings, found in the Lackawaxen River near the confluence of the Delaware River, the village of Lackawaxen.
The stone was called the “Hawley Stone” at the time in a purposed effort to disourage curiosity seekers.
The stone was investigated at the time by a local archaeologist, the late Dr. Vernon E. Leslie, who authored books on the subject of Native American artifacts found in the upper Delaware region, notably his 1973 work, “Faces in Clay.” His extensive collection of arrowheads an other local Indian artifacts are displayed at the Wayne County Historical Society. He also taught at Honesdale High School and became the official Wayne County Historian. Leslie was president of the Chesopien Archaeological Association. He died in 1994.
According to Leslie, the “Hawley Stone” was likely to attract attention to the part of the scientific community pursuing evidence of possible exploration in North America dating before the time of Christopher Columbus.
Strange script
The stone was discovered by Donald Ness, who at the time was the owner of a lunchroom and service station at Peck’s Pond in Porter Township, Pike County.
The stone measures 21-1/2 by 16-1/2 inches and is over 16 inches thick. Ness stated he found the stone in July of that year (1970). Two men were required to lift it on a truck. It appeared to be a very compact and fine-ground sandstone.
What made this rock stand out from all the rest were over a score of strange characters chiseled on one side.
Through a mutual friend, Dennis Loring, Ness contacted Dr. Leslie, who met with Ness accompanied by a Honesdale photographer, Stanton Pratt. Leslie gave a statement for the press: “Until expert opinion can be obtained, it would be putting one’s scientific standing on the line to take a position of authenticity. Gross examination reveals several undeniable facts, one being that somebody chiseled a number of characters into this stone and that this was done a sufficiently long time ago to produce a weathering of the chiseling to the appearance and color of the rest of the stone…
“While I am not unfamiliar with runic alphabets, at this time I do not wish to make a statement concerning the characters which are cut into this tone. The barest glance shows that they are not of the Roman alphabet.
“Only highly trained specialists can really handle runes- and often they are in disagreement… The ancient runemasters, moreover, were men who practiced a ‘mystery,’ that of being able to write. Making the most of their ‘magic talent,’ these learned gentlemen used to give even their literate collages a hard time by combining letters, omissions, unusual word-orders, writing backwards, etc. All of this certainly does not make things very easy for the modern scholar.”
He cautioned that enthusiastic pursuits of stones with strange markings have given way to forgeries, frauds or merely the work of natural forces.
Leslie stated that he would contact his associate, Dr. Thomas E. Lee (1914-1982) of the National Museum of Canada Quebec of this find.
Dr. Salvatore Michael Trento, who authored “The Search for Lost America” in 1978, had a short article on the “Hawley Stone.” Trento wrote that the man who found the stone was a fireman trucking water. He states that the man, who he did not name, eventually moved to Florida, taking the stone with him.
No more reports of the strange stone have surfaced.
George J. Fluhr, Pike County Historian, commented that the topic of ancient, carved stones is fascinating, but there is so little information. He added that it was a pity if the stone was taken out of the area. He said he had known people who found troves of Indian artifacts, but have taken them from the area where they were found.
Attempts to locate Donald Ness or his family have not yet been successful.
Stan Pratt, of Honesdale, was working as a professional photographer in 1970 when he accompanied Dr. Leslie to Ness’s home at Pecks Pond to see the stone. Pratt remembers the event, although had no other information about what became of Ness or the stone, or what if anything was ever determined about the etchings.
And then in 1974...
The story doesn’t end here.
Four years later, a teenager, James Knapp of Pleasant Mount, Pa.- Wayne County- also found a strange stone. This stone, also with what appears to be chiseled writing and a picture, was found on the OTHER END of the SAME RIVER. Knapp found the stone in the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River, near his home- about 30 miles from the spot where Donald Ness found his rock.
Fourteen at the time, Knapp was playing with his friend Jim Polivka in July 1974, when he saw the unusual stone in the water under a rock ledge where they had been sitting. He took the stone home where it sat in the corner. In 1977, a friend, Neil Hutton, had heard about the mysterious “Hawley Stone” and alerted The Wayne Independent.
Dr. Vernon Leslie investigated Knapp’s find, and contacted both Dr. Barry Fell and Salvatore Trento, both renowned in the study of possible pre-Columbian artifacts.
Knapp’s sandstone measures 12 by eight inches and weighs 14 pounds. Below a strange inscription is an etched drawing of hills, a stream, a few evergreen trees and a low shining Sun.
Trento’s conclusion that the writing was Iberic script, used by ancient Iberans in the land where Portugal and Spain are found, dating to 200 to 300 B.C. The inscription, according to Trento, reads, “ON THE APPOINTED DAY, THE SUN SETS N THE NOTCH OPPOSITE THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP.”
A team from the Middletown (NY) Archaeological Research Center, where Trento was associated, combed the area where the stone was found. The team found on a top of a hill, what they interpreted as possibly a ruined vestige of a slab-roofed stone chamber that might have been the house of worship. The rolling hills of Pleasant Mount may be pictured, as well as the West Branch flowing by.
Mark Sceurman, in his 2005 book, “Weird Pennsylvania,” cautioned that the traditional academic community dismissed Trento’s interpretation, and described Trento and Fell as “trait chasers”- people who use scant evidence to back their hypotheses. Sceurman added that Knapp’s stone has both its strong supporters and strong detractors, with no conclusive proof for either view.
At last word, Knapp still kept his treasured artifact, and it as a frequent tradition for Knapp to publicly display the stone at the July 4th celebration in the village of Pleasant Mount.
Odd coincidence
Speculation and an active imagination tries to fill in the story. Knapp assured that he certainly did not forge the artifact and would not have known how to do it. The “lettering” on the Knapp Stone and Hawley Stone are quite different. It would have been even more astonishing if they were similar. After all, IF these artifacts are authentic, how unlikely would it be to even have one of them, let alone TWO, at either end of our beloved Lackawaxen?
Could it be that Native Americans inscribed the stones? Native North Americans from before contact with Europeans, were not believed to have had a written language. Only the Maya in Central America are known to have developed a written language.
It is tempting to imagine that some long-ago European explorers made their way down the Lackawaxen in their canoe or raft, leaving these etched stones at both ends. Perhaps Pocono “tourism” is not new. Certainly, if they were real, they weren’t just here to see the sights. Trento speculated that they may have made their way east from the Susquehanna, searching for copper or other ore to ship home.
Did they encounter Native Americans? There were gaps of time between population of the area by nomadic tribes, who hunted, fished and lived in what we know as Wayne and Pike County. Perhaps these intrepid explorers had the great virgin forests to themselves, spooked by the dark woodland floors and haunted by ferocious wolves, bears and cougars. Imagine them paddling through the valley that would be Honesdale and passing through the future site of Hawley. Perhaps they did meet the local Indians of the time. We hope their meeting was a pleasant one, although “first contact” between civilizations were known to be beyond traumatic.
Perhaps this was a weary, little band of explorers from across the ocean who survived to this point, escaping the ravages of the wild and native inhabitants defending their homeland. Perhaps these stones were in a way a memorial to tell the world ahead that they were here.
Just supposing they are the real thing, it may be more likely the stones were left behind not unlike the trash and litter we condemn today that could in some far off date become an archaeologist’s treasure.
In this case they would have never imagined that a whole new wave of inhabitants millennia (or at least centuries) later would find their handiwork and either ponder their significance or dismiss it as some elaborate prank.
If anyone has any more information on Donald Ness or the "Hawley Stone," or other archaelogical artifacts in the region, please contact Managing Editor Peter Becker at news@neagle.com.
(Editor's note: This is a corrected version that provides the correct middle initial for historian George J. Fluhr.)
Did pre-Columbian ‘Pocono tourists’ leave their calling cards?
By PETER BECKER
Managing Editor
LACKAWAXEN - Over 40 years ago, an artifact was found at the terminus of the Lackawaxen River. If it were ever proved authentic, it would link this corner of the Pocono northeast with potential pre-Columbian explorers.
It would be followed four years later by another similar discovery, amazingly at the opposite end of the same river.
The August 13, 1970 edition of The Wayne Independent carried a page one story and photo concerning a large piece of sandstone with strange etchings, found in the Lackawaxen River near the confluence of the Delaware River, the village of Lackawaxen.
The stone was called the “Hawley Stone” at the time in a purposed effort to disourage curiosity seekers.
The stone was investigated at the time by a local archaeologist, the late Dr. Vernon E. Leslie, who authored books on the subject of Native American artifacts found in the upper Delaware region, notably his 1973 work, “Faces in Clay.” His extensive collection of arrowheads an other local Indian artifacts are displayed at the Wayne County Historical Society. He also taught at Honesdale High School and became the official Wayne County Historian. Leslie was president of the Chesopien Archaeological Association. He died in 1994.
According to Leslie, the “Hawley Stone” was likely to attract attention to the part of the scientific community pursuing evidence of possible exploration in North America dating before the time of Christopher Columbus.
Strange script
The stone was discovered by Donald Ness, who at the time was the owner of a lunchroom and service station at Peck’s Pond in Porter Township, Pike County.
The stone measures 21-1/2 by 16-1/2 inches and is over 16 inches thick. Ness stated he found the stone in July of that year (1970). Two men were required to lift it on a truck. It appeared to be a very compact and fine-ground sandstone.
What made this rock stand out from all the rest were over a score of strange characters chiseled on one side.
Through a mutual friend, Dennis Loring, Ness contacted Dr. Leslie, who met with Ness accompanied by a Honesdale photographer, Stanton Pratt. Leslie gave a statement for the press: “Until expert opinion can be obtained, it would be putting one’s scientific standing on the line to take a position of authenticity. Gross examination reveals several undeniable facts, one being that somebody chiseled a number of characters into this stone and that this was done a sufficiently long time ago to produce a weathering of the chiseling to the appearance and color of the rest of the stone…
“While I am not unfamiliar with runic alphabets, at this time I do not wish to make a statement concerning the characters which are cut into this tone. The barest glance shows that they are not of the Roman alphabet.
“Only highly trained specialists can really handle runes- and often they are in disagreement… The ancient runemasters, moreover, were men who practiced a ‘mystery,’ that of being able to write. Making the most of their ‘magic talent,’ these learned gentlemen used to give even their literate collages a hard time by combining letters, omissions, unusual word-orders, writing backwards, etc. All of this certainly does not make things very easy for the modern scholar.”
He cautioned that enthusiastic pursuits of stones with strange markings have given way to forgeries, frauds or merely the work of natural forces.
Leslie stated that he would contact his associate, Dr. Thomas E. Lee (1914-1982) of the National Museum of Canada Quebec of this find.
Dr. Salvatore Michael Trento, who authored “The Search for Lost America” in 1978, had a short article on the “Hawley Stone.” Trento wrote that the man who found the stone was a fireman trucking water. He states that the man, who he did not name, eventually moved to Florida, taking the stone with him.
No more reports of the strange stone have surfaced.
George J. Fluhr, Pike County Historian, commented that the topic of ancient, carved stones is fascinating, but there is so little information. He added that it was a pity if the stone was taken out of the area. He said he had known people who found troves of Indian artifacts, but have taken them from the area where they were found.
Attempts to locate Donald Ness or his family have not yet been successful.
Stan Pratt, of Honesdale, was working as a professional photographer in 1970 when he accompanied Dr. Leslie to Ness’s home at Pecks Pond to see the stone. Pratt remembers the event, although had no other information about what became of Ness or the stone, or what if anything was ever determined about the etchings.
And then in 1974...
The story doesn’t end here.
Four years later, a teenager, James Knapp of Pleasant Mount, Pa.- Wayne County- also found a strange stone. This stone, also with what appears to be chiseled writing and a picture, was found on the OTHER END of the SAME RIVER. Knapp found the stone in the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River, near his home- about 30 miles from the spot where Donald Ness found his rock.
Fourteen at the time, Knapp was playing with his friend Jim Polivka in July 1974, when he saw the unusual stone in the water under a rock ledge where they had been sitting. He took the stone home where it sat in the corner. In 1977, a friend, Neil Hutton, had heard about the mysterious “Hawley Stone” and alerted The Wayne Independent.
Dr. Vernon Leslie investigated Knapp’s find, and contacted both Dr. Barry Fell and Salvatore Trento, both renowned in the study of possible pre-Columbian artifacts.
Knapp’s sandstone measures 12 by eight inches and weighs 14 pounds. Below a strange inscription is an etched drawing of hills, a stream, a few evergreen trees and a low shining Sun.
Trento’s conclusion that the writing was Iberic script, used by ancient Iberans in the land where Portugal and Spain are found, dating to 200 to 300 B.C. The inscription, according to Trento, reads, “ON THE APPOINTED DAY, THE SUN SETS N THE NOTCH OPPOSITE THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP.”
A team from the Middletown (NY) Archaeological Research Center, where Trento was associated, combed the area where the stone was found. The team found on a top of a hill, what they interpreted as possibly a ruined vestige of a slab-roofed stone chamber that might have been the house of worship. The rolling hills of Pleasant Mount may be pictured, as well as the West Branch flowing by.
Mark Sceurman, in his 2005 book, “Weird Pennsylvania,” cautioned that the traditional academic community dismissed Trento’s interpretation, and described Trento and Fell as “trait chasers”- people who use scant evidence to back their hypotheses. Sceurman added that Knapp’s stone has both its strong supporters and strong detractors, with no conclusive proof for either view.
At last word, Knapp still kept his treasured artifact, and it as a frequent tradition for Knapp to publicly display the stone at the July 4th celebration in the village of Pleasant Mount.
Odd coincidence
Speculation and an active imagination tries to fill in the story. Knapp assured that he certainly did not forge the artifact and would not have known how to do it. The “lettering” on the Knapp Stone and Hawley Stone are quite different. It would have been even more astonishing if they were similar. After all, IF these artifacts are authentic, how unlikely would it be to even have one of them, let alone TWO, at either end of our beloved Lackawaxen?
Could it be that Native Americans inscribed the stones? Native North Americans from before contact with Europeans, were not believed to have had a written language. Only the Maya in Central America are known to have developed a written language.
It is tempting to imagine that some long-ago European explorers made their way down the Lackawaxen in their canoe or raft, leaving these etched stones at both ends. Perhaps Pocono “tourism” is not new. Certainly, if they were real, they weren’t just here to see the sights. Trento speculated that they may have made their way east from the Susquehanna, searching for copper or other ore to ship home.
Did they encounter Native Americans? There were gaps of time between population of the area by nomadic tribes, who hunted, fished and lived in what we know as Wayne and Pike County. Perhaps these intrepid explorers had the great virgin forests to themselves, spooked by the dark woodland floors and haunted by ferocious wolves, bears and cougars. Imagine them paddling through the valley that would be Honesdale and passing through the future site of Hawley. Perhaps they did meet the local Indians of the time. We hope their meeting was a pleasant one, although “first contact” between civilizations were known to be beyond traumatic.
Perhaps this was a weary, little band of explorers from across the ocean who survived to this point, escaping the ravages of the wild and native inhabitants defending their homeland. Perhaps these stones were in a way a memorial to tell the world ahead that they were here.
Just supposing they are the real thing, it may be more likely the stones were left behind not unlike the trash and litter we condemn today that could in some far off date become an archaeologist’s treasure.
In this case they would have never imagined that a whole new wave of inhabitants millennia (or at least centuries) later would find their handiwork and either ponder their significance or dismiss it as some elaborate prank.
If anyone has any more information on Donald Ness or the "Hawley Stone," or other archaelogical artifacts in the region, please contact Managing Editor Peter Becker at news@neagle.com.
