This ever-changing Painted Rock has been a Block Island local tradition since 1962. Discover its origin story and visit the rock to uncover the message of the week for yourself.
It all started 57 years ago, in 1962, when Wendy and Eddie decided to paint over the rock at the intersection of Lakeside Drive, Mohegan Trail, and Snake Hole Road as a Halloween prank. This innocent prank turned into a local tradition. For the last 57 years locals have proceeded to visit Painted Rock, paint over it with their own cans of paint, and share their own message with Block Island. The rock gets a facelift about once a week if not more in the summer and a bit less frequently in the winter.
Pat and I were headed down to Vail Beach for a dip in the ocean. On our way there we were lucky enough to witness a painting of the rock happening in the act! A family was crowded around the rock that was originally pink and proceeded to turn it blue. On our way back up from Vail Beach we witnessed the “finished art.” The family had turned the pink rock into a blue rock with a cute sailboat and a colorful lighthouse on it. This was just one of the thousands of layers of paint and designs that the Painted Rock has gone through. I was always a fan of geology growing up and actually wanted to be an archaeologist at one point in my life. I saw the Painted Rock as it’s own form of a “sedimentary rock,” with layers of accumulated history hidden beneath it.
Every time you visit Block Island there will be a different message from baby showers to wedding announcements, graduations, birthdays just for fun, and more. I was tempted to leave my own mark on the Painted Rock, but didn’t feel I was local enough to be able to leave something special on the rock. Maybe next time, after a few other visits to Block Island, I’ll stop by and leave my own SVADORE mark!
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