Local folklore portrays St. Aspinquid as an Algonquin leader who converted to Christianity and preached peace between European settlers and native tribes during the conflicts of the 17th century. Oral tradition developed many stories about his death in the Mt. Agamenticus area, including one in which he received an elaborate burial and celebration honoring his saintly qualities. In the 19th century, this story was promoted as a romantic attraction for tourists, who imitated a Native tradition of placing a palm-sized rock on the summit in memory of St. Aspinquid and his struggle for peace, and these stones gradually formed a substantial pile. Although the rock pile has been moved several times, the tradition endures for Native Americans as a spiritual and reverent homage to a man remembered for crossing cultures to bring people together. More broadly, Native Americans of the Northeast believed the landscape was filled with spirits and supernatural forces, and they balanced physical and spiritual life through prayers, songs, and ceremonies, some involving stone structures such as cairns, chambers, niches, split stones, and pedestal or perched boulders. Some cairns honored important people or past events, and while this site is not a burial place, the original mound at Mt. Agamenticus may have been built to resemble a traditional Native American grave. Carrying palm-sized stones from home to places like this has served as a spiritual offering, a sign of respect for ancestors, and a remembrance of ancestral lands.