In the woods behind our house, there is a large “erratic” to the left of the trail. An erratic is a rock that is not the same as the underlying bedrock, having been transported from the north by a glacier and then left behind when the glacier finally melted. This rock is well over 7 feet high and is gray granite.
The rock sits on property once owned by Constantine and Olga Monks Pertzoff, who lived in a house at the very end of Canaan Drive, designed by Mr. Pertzoff, a well-known mid-century modern architect.
When Constantine died, his wife had the words “HE LOVED THESE FIELDS AND WOODS” carved into the stone under Constantine’s name and dates. Several years later, when Olga died, the stone inscription was updated, due to some rather clever pre-planned spacing in the carving, to read “THEY LOVED THESE FIELDS AND WOODS.”
The photo above is the detail from the word LOVED carved in the erratic.