7 wonders - Jasper's Rock and Civil War Monument

by Bobby Blair

Unlike Plymouth Rock, Jasper’s Rock never seems to have anyone chip hunks away as souvenirs. Most likely the first white man to spend any length of time there - in what was then known as Dedham or shortly thereafter Medfield - on a hill now known as Mt. Hollis was a shepherd or cattle tender named Jasper Adams. History has it that Adams would signal his father located in Medfield via a fire built atop this large boulder located just past the end of Fairlane Way.

Indians still roamed the forest, and in 1675 the Indians attacked the towns of Lancaster, Groton, Springfield, Weymouth, Sudbury, Northampton and Medfield. The Civil War Monument has stood at Town Hall for over 125 years. While the town recruited over 350 men for its own unit, The Winthrop Guards, only sixty-six were native Hollistonians. The granite shaft lists the names of thirty-two men killed during the war, a huge total considering the size of the town. The shaft also includes the names of the major battles the unit fought in. While some of those who fell during battle were buried near where they made their sacrifice, others were transported home to Holliston and lie not far from the monument in the Central Burial Grounds next to Town Hall that honors their deeds.