Westford, Massachusetts: The Westford Knight
Some see the image of a medieval knight scratched into a roadside rock, and say it marks a visit nearly 100 years before Columbus supposedly discovered America. A bronze knight was added in 2015, supposedly copying what's in the scratches.
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The Westford Knight is covered for the winter to prevent frost damage. All you see is plywood. I would contact the town hall or historical society before venturing there too early in the season.
[Bill La Civita, 01/13/2014]While taking anthropology classes in Boston I heard about one of the premier attractions of my lovely (and historic) state; The Westford Knight. It is a carving (in the living rock no less) of a Scottish Templar Knight done in 1640 (so the accompanying placard attests) by a specific escaping templar (whose name eludes me at present) to commemorate the death of one of his party.
They were on a mission to hide the Holy Grail at Oak Island Nova Scotia obviously and, in search of a more secure location, traveled south to Massachusetts, up some river and thus found their way to this lovely section of country. The Westford Knight himself is a 8' X 8' chunk of flat granite about 2 inches from the right side of a small road right in the middle of Westford. The carving is obscured (by age?) and does actually resemble a knight, his tower shield and sword.
[Gregory Lloyd Kinney, 01/17/2000]The Westford Knight was just a bunch of scratches on a rock before it was proclaimed, in 1954, to be a carving of a knight. Supporters say that it's Sir James Gunn, a Knight Templar who supposedly visited the rock in 1398. When we visited the rock, it just looked like a bunch of scratches.
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The Westford Knight
- Address:
- 17 Depot St., Westford, MA
- Directions:
- I-495 exit 32. Drive west on Boston Rd. When you reach the Westford Common, turn right onto Lincoln St. and continue straight onto Main St. Just past the Roudenbush Community Center bear left onto Depot St. The knight is about a quarter-mile up the street, on the right as the road bends right. It's right on the road, so drive a little further, turn right, and park at the high school.
- Admission:
- Free
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
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We've been to the Knight when he was uncovered and couldn't see anything knightlike; the markings looked like chicken scratches to us. But we're pleased that the town has taken measures to preserve what's there: a supposed history-upending effigy of a knight made in 1399.