Sunday, August 5, 2012

High Rock Carving





    One of the strangest carved rocks is the High Rock petroglph. The strange symbols and carvings found on this large boulder have never been understood. And they are unlike any other carvings in the region. The rock was discovered under a small rock shelter near High Rock on the south fork of the Red River in Kentucky. Most of the Swift silver mine searches over the decades have been concentrated on the north fork of the the Red River and some on the middle  fork. To give perspective, the Red River is comprised of three different forks and watersheds. The north fork is the famous Red River Gorge area with many of the features and landmarks that I have written about in this blog.  The middle fork flows by the famous Natural Bridge State Park. The south fork is rarely mentioned but in the 1970's was the location for this unique carved rock.
    Many, of course, have speculated as to who produced the carvings ranging from the Adena culture "doodling" on a rock to pass away time, to some secret map, perhaps leading or describing the Swift mines. Interestingly in the early 80's         a Mr. Tipton (Wearing helmet in photograph) believed he had found the Swift mines within only hundreds of yards of the strangely carved rock. Mr. Tipton had studied his versions of the Swift journals and came to the conclusion the sliver treasure lay buried underneath a layer of top soil and rock. Whether Mr. Tipton ever connected any relation to the carved rock found near-by we do not know. This location is on the south fork of the Red River and not as famous search area. Even farther south into Estill and Jackson Counties, are search areas for the mines. 
    The unusual carved rock is now housed in the Red River Museum located at Clay City, Kentucky and is on prominent display. 

2 comments:

  1. I need to go there and see the rock in person.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt, Here is a link with some information about the museum and a photo of the rock at its present location in the Red River Museum:

    http://www.panoramio.com/photo/53491689

    ReplyDelete

Swift Interview

    Just a quick update as promised. The Swift interview will air May 21 at 8:00 PM on KET. The last entry on this site covered the intervie...