The Curious Legend of Sticks and Stones

By Joan Osgood

The winter storms had left his woods a maze of trees strewn about. He still, of course, knew the way. The area had a name—Round Swamp. But no one knew this vast denseness as he did. He knew this trek well. A passage that brought him to his refuge.

He reached his wooded sanctuary, a shelter, unrecognizable now, even to him. It was heavy-going. The storms had been unmerciful, and his brush and tree-limbed shelter was gone. He knew it would take a while to rebuild—he had to do it afore. He set to work.

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This is the legend of a carver. A Sandwich man who lived a hermit-like life generations ago. Who had an odd obsession with carving figures and letters on wooden logs and stone. It is both fascinating and puzzling.

There are historical facts related to this story that are not disputed. But as is common when stories are passed down from one generation to another, truths sometimes get blurred, embellished or forgotten. Such is the case here.

As historical records and articles tell it, no one can say with certainty in which century it took place—the 1700s or early 1800s. Or who the carver was. Or why the carvings. Our imagination will have to fill in the gaps. But it is so intriguing I think the story is worth telling.

I’ll start with what is known.

It is 1887. The Frederick Lockwood Company was commissioned to dredge the Sandwich end of what was to become the Cape Cod Canal. This area contained acres of marshland known by townspeople back then as the Sandwich and Scusset Marshes.

The Lockwood Dredge was a huge ark-like structure. It was steam-driven and equipped with thirty-nine buckets fastened to a continuous chain. It scooped up the dredged material from these marshes and deposited it by chute to a barge for removal.

Here is where it gets interesting.

A news article in the February 5, 1887, edition of The Boston Globe was startling. The printed headline seemed to jump off the page: “Strange Carvings Exhumed from the Sandwich Marshes.”

Sandwich native and journalist John W. Dalton reported that while the dredge was working on this marshy area it brought up “a strange collection of about fifty figures carved in oak.” From the condition of the oak (some accounts say it was locust) those viewing the carvings held the belief that they had been preserved “under the sand and water of the marsh for the past century or more.”

All the carvings were of a woman. Some were fashioned almost like stick figures, and some were anatomically quite detailed. Random letters that were also carved into the wood formed no coherent words and made no sense.

Years passed. Then, in the 1930s, the canal required dredging to widen and deepen the Sandwich end once more. The U.S. Minquas was one of the dredges commissioned to do this work. Donald R. Small, a Sagamore native, was a deckhand on this dredge. Tons of rocks, boulders, sand and soil were being removed.

Incredibly, Don Small witnessed something else–-large carved logs. The canal was eager yet again to play its role in verifying a crucial part of this legend by giving up its secret cache of carved logs.

In reminiscing about his unusual sighting in the January 26,1972 edition of The Cape Cod Independent, Small was quoted as saying, “When cutting through the Canal channel at the Scusset Marshes those carved logs came out of the dredge pipe like cannonballs.”

He continued, “I saw two barges loaded with twenty cords of logs…all of them carved…[and] taken out to sea and dumped. More were pumped into the filled area on the north side of the Canal (Scusset Marshes) and are still buried under tons of sand.” It is not known how the logs ended up in the marshes. This is left for us to ponder.

So, from these intriguing news accounts we have proof of an important piece of the legend. The carved wooden logs actually existed. And I suppose these accounts should be enough for me. After all, I too had heard about the legend years ago. There had been stories passed down for years—generations, actually. But there are still questions.

Did any of these carvings survive? Had any ever been found and saved? If so, where are they?

And then I had a thought. I wonder…I just wonder if the Sandwich Glass Museum and Historical Society knows anything about these carvings. Yes, they do. In fact, they have four of them in their collection! I met with Olivia Padula, the museum’s Curator of Collections, to see them. Each carving was carefully wrapped and as they were revealed I couldn’t help but be amazed at their centuries-old condition. Certainly a bit aged, very crudely carved, and quite weird I should say, but they had survived! The carved letters, although impossible to interpret, are clearly visible.

One carving I saw was donated by Sandwich resident Alvin White (1906-1997). Mr. White, a noted decorative gun engraver, lived on Beale Avenue with his family for many years. He found his carving in 1983 in one of the Sandwich marshes off Route 6A.

Now to the rocks.

Yes, they exist, too! In fact, they have been known locally for generations as the “SAL N PRY” rocks. Hunters discovered them in the early 1800s near Round Swamp. This area is deep in the woods of what is now known as Camp Edwards, part of Joint Base Cape Cod. The figure of a woman is carved into the largest rock, and below the figure are carved the letters SAL N PRY. The other rocks contain only indistinct letters – S.P., C.N. and S.L.P.

So-called SAL N PRY Rock Carving. Source: Sandwich Town Archives.

As to who the carver was and why all the carvings—this is where it gets murky. I’ve read several theories, but one stands out as the most frequently told.

It seems there was a young Sandwich couple in the 1700s or early 1800s who were engaged to be married. To earn enough money to afford a marriage, family and a home, the young man shipped out to sea. Various historical accounts identify him as a Nye, Freeman or Perry.

Upon returning home after his sea voyage, he found that his true love had married another man. This threw him for a loop. The sad life he led from that time forward has been variously described as reclusive, strange, unhinged in mind, and odd. He spent his time thereafter in the woods carving his lost love’s image in wooden logs and stones, perhaps as some sort of testament to the life he wished for but would never have.

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He had struggled mightily. But he looked at his restored shelter and was pleased. He told himself the next time he returned he’d be able to begin his carving again. It comforted and calmed him somehow. He was alone in these woods and yet he was not—he had his carvings. Yes, he knew the townspeople thought him odd. That mattered not.

My appreciation to Jerry Ellis, Bourne native and noted historian, for providing information on this unusual legend; and to Ms. Olivia Padula, Curator of Collections at the Sandwich Glass Museum, for helping to verify the existence of the wood carvings.

Joan Osgood is a member of the Friends of the Sandwich Town Archives.