By: GeneCooper
Image: Gene Cooper, GIGAmacro ⧉

Uploaded: 24 Jun 2015
Last Updated: 24 Jun 2015

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The famous – and to some, infamous – Dare Stones have been a part of Brenau University lore since the 1930s. At the height of the Great Depression, a mysterious Californian walked into the history department of Emory University with a 21-pound rock engraved with strange markings. The man claims he uncovered the stone, bearing the inscription “Anais Dare & Virginia went hence unto heaven 1591,” while exploring the swamps of North Carolina. That piqued the curiosity of professor Dr. Haywood Pearce, Jr., who was also vice president of Brenau at the time. He and his father, Brenau President Dr. Haywood Pearce, paid the man $1,000 for what is now described as the “Dare Stone” – so called because many believe the writings scrawled upon the rock were made by Eleanor Dare, of the notorious “lost” Roanoke Colony. While a deluge of imitator rocks soon flooded into Brenau – the result of the Pearces offering cash rewards to anyone who dug up similar items – newfound evidence, publicized on media outlets such as the History Channel, offer to shed new light on the authenticity of any of the Dare Stones, which have remained in Brenau’s custody for almost 80 years.