Wedgwood Rock

Wedgwood Rock is a glacial erratic (and known to geologists as the Wedgwood Erratic) near the neighborhood of Wedgwood in Seattle, Washington. (Technically, the rock is outside the boundary of Wedgwood, in the Bryant/Ravenna neighborhoods.) Its mineral composition matches that of Mount Erie, on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County, Washington, 55 mi (89 km) north. Prior to the establishment of the Wedgwood neighborhood, the erratic was known first as Lone Rock and later simply as Big Rock. Deposited more than 14,000 years ago by the Vashon Glacier, it was a landmark for Native Americans in what was once a dense forest.

In 1881, the rock, known at the time as Lone Rock, was part of the 160-acre farm of William Weedin. An anonymous 1881 letter to the Seattle Daily Intelligencer about a Fourth of July picnic at the rock described it as "in a dense forest" on Weedin's land, and as "a single rock 80 feet (24 m) in circumference and 19 feet (5.8 m) in height, rather oval-shaped, covered with a solid network of moss and interspersed with liquorice, with its graceful fern-shaped foliage hanging in festoons around it." This rock has an estimated mass of 700 metric tons.

In 1888 the Weedin property passed to Mary Miller, widow of William Miller. William Miller, an ally of Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens, fought in the Puget Sound War and Yakima War of 1856–1857.

By the early 20th century, the rock was known as Big Rock. With the Miller family's permission, members of Seattle's Mountaineers Club practiced their rock climbing techniques there. Edmond S. Meany, president of Mountaineers and a professor at the nearby University of Washington brought his students to the rock to learn about glacial movement and land forms. Later, Boy Scouts also learned to climb there, taught by German-born climber and scout leader Wolf Bauer. REI founder Lloyd Anderson taught Mountaineers and Boy Scouts at the rock. Among the prominent climbers whose training started at Big Rock were German-born Fred Beckey and Jim Whittaker, who became the first American to reach the top of Mount Everest.

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