Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Anatomy of a Profile


Let us take a brief respite from the heat, humidity, and bugs to travel back into times past.

Long ago on a (still) well visited beach along Buzzards Bay lay an attraction know as the Profile Rock. It never looked liked anything to me, both from a personal appearance and all the postcard images floating around the internet and at old shows. One old postcard even had the audacity to put in writing on its reverse side; "At certain times of the tide and with the sun in certain positions there are many remarkable profiles discerned on this rock." I was still not impressed as the 'best' I saw was a 'beaky', buzzard-like appearance.




Profile Rock @ Buzzards Bay: 1890's


But long ago during the 1890's some enlightened soul decided to produce an image of said profile. Now we're getting somewhere! A rough outline of a human face could finally be seen. As for all the old postcards (of which many exist) if it showed that side of the rock, yeah, maybe we could see that profile.



Profile Rock

Profile Rock @ Buzzards Bay: early 1900's


But time marches on and the modern age brought in beach improvements. With sand and a shoreline farther out, the profile of Profile Rock became largely buried - and forgotten. Forgotten? Well, not completely as long as there are those that thirst for history past. As for this author - my next trip to the profile rock will include a shovel.


Profile Rock

Profile Rock @ Buzzards Bay: 2003