New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire
The Historical Society visits the rock in the 1980s or 90s.
Sunday Driver Rock
This is one of two famous New Boston boulders, the other being
Frog Rock in the opposite corner of town.
Sunday Driver Rock, which may be seen at the intersection of McCurdy Road and Bedford Road, bears the cryptic legend "You Sunday Driver, you stop to think, you think to stop."
No one is quite sure exactly when the rock was first painted (late 1930s?) or why. The original artist may have been a Chancey; later it was Wilfrid Klardie who claimed to have done the deed.
The rock was repainted many times over the years, often with changes to text and punctuation. The Levesque children who lived near the rock helped with its maintenance.
1937 newspaper advertisement from the Schoharie Republican
We know that NBC Radio broadcast a program called "Sunday Drivers" from 1937-1941, which popularized the slogan, "If you stop to think — you will think to stop."
This, combined with a jug of hard cider, was most likely the inspiration for the message painted on the New Boston rock.
Bedford Road was narrow and unpaved in the 1960s and 70s and there was little traffic.
The oldest photo of the rock in our files is dated 1967 and shows text in all capital letters with no punctuation whatsoever.
When the "Images of America" book of New Boston history was printed in 2004, its photo of the rock showed mixed-case text and a couple of well-placed commas.
By 2004, Bedford Road had been paved and New Boston's population had grown from 1,000 to 4,000 people, most of whom traveled on Bedford Road,
so this version of the rock was believed by many to be the original.
The rock as seen in "Images of America — New Boston" (2004). Photo by Betty Poltrack.
The unloved 2011 version.
Sunday Driver Rock did not age gracefully as the paint flaked off.
All the Levesque children had grown up and moved away, so it was a volunteer from the Historical Society who repainted the rock in 2011 with the help of a local artist.
Alas, they did not reproduce exactly the font and words everyone remembered most fondly, and more than a few Letters to the Editor were written complaining of heresy.
Unfortunately, the 2011 repaint had been protected by a special anti-graffiti coating due to repeated vandalism of the rock, so New Boston was stuck with the unpopular text for over a decade.
Bob Warren sandblasts the rock in 2024.
When at last the 2011 paint began to peel, many people posted on Facebook their wish that the rock be restored to the the way it used to be.
Dick Backus went to the Select Board to obtain their approval to repaint the rock, then Bob Warren and Dick Moody sandblasted the rock and painted the bright white background.
When the paint was dry Katie Hawkes went to the rock late one night to outline the text with a police cruiser parked nearby, its blue lights flashing to ensure her safety.
Why work at night? Katie needed darkness so that she could project an old photo of the rock and make an exact replica of everyone's favorite version of the famous "stop to think" message,
an endeavor in which she was entirely successful.
Night work
Katie returned to complete the lettering in daylight.
August 2024 — the rock restored!
