The Remarkable Yarn of Elizabeth Captive Johnson: A Stone Age Memoir from the

Way back in 1754, the North American continent was a battlefield in the French and Indian War. One fateful August 29, a surprise attack by Native Americans, likely Abenaki, struck the Fort at Number 4, Charlestown, New Hampshire. Trapped in the tumult were the Johnsons. On the second day of their forced march, Susannah Willard Johnson welcomed a daughter into the world, who would later be christened Elizabeth Captive Johnson. As a testament to her resilience.

After being ransomed and returned home by 1760, Susannah returned to the site of the siege on several occasions. In 1799, she hired a stonecutter to carve two slate markers as a memorial, placing them by the brook near where Elizabeth was born and where they were all taken captive. These stones, the oldest commemorative steles in Vermont, vanished by the late 19th century, but were eventually moved to their present location at Route 106, where they remain today.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the Indian Stones bear witness to a piece of American history, standing near a small roadside pullout, their haunting yet astounding past still weighing heavy.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons