While we all know Rochester was once larger than it is today, we may not remember exactly how large. Before it was decided to create Wareham out of land from both Rochester and Plymouth, Rochester extended as far as the Narrows. Long before Marion and Mattapoisett separated from the town, other boundary line changes occurred.
Papers at the Rochester Historical Museum from 1757 contain the following discussion. “Know all men by these present that whereas there hath been a long contest and controversy between the Town of Dartmouth and the Town of Rochester about and concerning the dividing line between the said two towns and sundry meetings and adjudications between the agents for the towns” that an agreement would seem to be near.
The agents for Dartmouth, according to the document wanted a boundary line that ran north from a “known” black oak tree about 3 miles east of the Acushnet River and then “running up and into the woods for 8 miles”.
On the other hand, Rochester wanted a straight line from the same tree to a peaked rock with 2 trees next to it “which rock is commonly known by the name of Peaked Rock and stands near the old Plimouth Path”. This line was more westerly than the line wanted by Dartmouth.
On June 4, 1757, Seth Pope, Thomas Taber and Jonathan Delano who were agents for Dartmouth and Samuel Prince, Aaron Barlow and John Hammond, agents for Rochester, met to “fix and settle the siad line”. The description of the line includes a “heap of stones lying upon the beach”, the same black oak tree and the peaked rock.
Unfortunately for us, the rest of the document is missing, but we do know that today the peaked rock is in Acushnet near the Rochester line and quite a distance from Dartmouth.
I find it interesting how fluid the lines between towns and counties were in the early years of our communities and also, how impermanent the land markers were that were used to describe the boundary lines. Who knows if the black oak or piles of stones are still there today. Thank Heaven for Peak Rock.