Rumors can travel fast through a small Vermont town, especially when they touch on a century-old landmark that sits right alongside the road. Over the summer of 2026, local chatter and media coverage left many residents with the distinct impression that the Town of Bristol was actively weighing whether to move or remove Lord’s Prayer Rock. Those concerns prompted a definitive public clarification from the municipal leadership to set the record straight on what local officials are actually discussing.
What the Official Record Shows About Lord’s Prayer Rock
In a public statement released on August 31, 2026, Selectboard Chair Ian Albinson addressed the mounting public commentary by outlining the precise history and legal status of the site. The landmark’s story dates back to 1891, when Dr. Joseph C. Greene of South Starksboro commissioned William McGee and a second man to carve the inscription into the stone. Dr. Greene maintained the rock himself until he died in 1899.
Citizens of Bristol voted at their town meeting in 1908 to assume stewardship of the rock. Decades later, in 1941, the Village purchased the surrounding land. When the village and town governments merged in 1995, the Town has owned it. Official recognition followed when the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation evaluated the site in 1977, adding it to the State Historic Sites and Structures list in 1980.
Decades of Debates and Defended Decisions
This is not the first time the community has wrestled with questions surrounding the roadside landmark. Proposals to move the rock, cut a section from it, or blast it away surfaced in 1941, 1957, 1958, 1974, and 1985. Voters rejected them at village meetings in 1957 and 1974, while the others were dropped. In eighty-five years, no board and no vote has ever gone the other way.
The current cycle of concern began during the summer of 2026. A resident raised road-safety questions at the Board’s meeting of July 13, 2026.
Weighing the Safety Data Along Route 116
He found nine reported crashes in seventeen years. Out of those nine incidents, one involved a vehicle striking the rock.
No location on VT 116 in Bristol, the rock included, has recorded a fatality in that period.
