In a nearby field stood the garrison house of the Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, the first ordained minister of Lancaster. During his absence on February 10, 1675-76, the house was attacked and destroyed by Indians, and its inhabitants were massacred or carried into captivity. Later, most of them were redeemed. The minister’s wife later immortalized her experiences in “The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” first published at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1682.
