Cannon Rock: Discovered in 1856 by Joseph Rowell of Lynn’s Explorers Circle.It is located on city-owned property near the Peabody border.

Rowell described the three smaller boulders holding up the massive rock as having the appearance of an ancient chariot. He called it Phaeton Rock.

‘Phaeton’ refers to a lightweight, four-wheeled carriage used by the son of Greek myth's Helios to drag the sun carelessly too close to the Earth.  

Nearly all professional geologists and archaeologists regard Cannon Rock as a glacial erratic (or perched rock) resulting from our last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago. A sixty-five-ton rock balanced on three small boulders.

The name "Cannon Rock" became popular around 1924 due to the popularity of New England colonialism.