Follins Pond - Connection To Vinland

Connection To Vinland

Follins Pond is noteworthy primarily because there has been an attempt to connect it to the semi-legendary lost Norse colony of Vinland.

In the 1950s, Frederick J. Pohl investigated Follins Pond and claimed that he had located shore rocks along the pond into which were drilled holes that strongly resembled Norse mooring stones (the Norse were known to drill holes into which iron pins were inserted for the purpose of mooring their knarrer).

Additionally, Pohl claimed that he had uncovered the tops of posts about a foot underground, arranged in a pattern that might have been that of either a Norse shipyard or drydock.

Further, at about the same time a claimed "Viking horse bone" may have been unearthed at Follins Pond. Pohl was of the opinion that at least a few horses were brought from Greenland by the Norse on their further voyages of exploration.

Pohl published a book in 1952 entitled The lost discovery: Uncovering the track of the Vikings in America which detailed this claim. It is not taken seriously by professional historians, as the evidence presented is rather scant and no archaeological finds of any significance have been made in the area since.