LAURINBURG — A painted rock remains hiding in downtown Laurinburg and is one of many left in several states by New Yorker Ashley B. Vincent.

Vincent has been hiding the painted rocks across various states she’s visited with her family since 2016. Some of the states include South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

“In 2016, I found a group on Facebook called Broome County Rocks,” Vincent said. “It was tailored around people painting rocks, putting the hashtag: #broomecountyrocks on the back and hiding them around town. The idea was to leave them and when someone found one, they would take a photo, add it to the group page and say where they found it then they would relocate it somewhere else.”

Vincent added she began painting the rocks with her best friend Amanda with their combined five children, who have enjoyed painting and leaving the rocks in various places along with finding other ones.

“There really wasn’t any rhyme or reason to leaving them places,” Vincent said. “In the beginning, we left them more in parks, but now, we leave them literally everywhere. I.e. grocery stores, gas stations, laundromats … etc. Mainly, wherever we go, we try to leave one. Landon and Tarrah both love to leave them places.”

When traveling, specifically to North Carolina to visit family, Vincent said she brings a Tupperware container of the rocks to leave them along the way and around the places they visit in the state.

“We have left them at the beaches mostly there like Carolina Beach on a bench, Myrtle Beach on a cement wall, Wrightsville Beach on a parking meter,” Vincent said. “Back in New York, my boyfriend James and I like to take our combined four kids hiking a lot in Ithaca. Our favorite park is Robert H. Treman Park. Off the walking path, into a glen, there is a rock wall that is a nicely kept secret. Not many know of it and you have to know to look for it to find it. When people do find it, they find a rock and write a message or leave their names and hide it within the rock wall. I have left a few rocks here.”

One of the coolest places that a rock has ended up though, ended up hundreds of miles from its original location.

“A rock was found was when it was taken from where I left it at Walmart in Vestal, New York, taken on vacation with the people and then found again by someone in the Dominican Republic,” Vincent said. “I found this out when I was in the Broome County Rocks group.”

When looking for rocks to paint Vincent typically heads to rivers or creeks to “rock hunt” typically after she gives up fishing with her boyfriend.

“I look for smooth rocks mostly since they work better with paint pens,” Vincent said. “I carefully inspect them to make sure the rock isn’t too porous, so it doesn’t soak up my paint. I will look for any shape or size, it depends on what I want to do with them. Some of my rocks are being taken to have in homes. I have some that are painted with quotes that people have asked to keep and not relocate. I also have painted rocks as commission rocks for people … but sometimes, I see a rock and it just screams what it wants to be. And that is what happened with a few of my favorite rocks.”

One of Vincent’s favorite rocks was one that looked like a raven head, so she painted it with the word “nevermore” as a nod to “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe. Another favorite was one that looked like a quote bubble that she painted to say “she blooms even when darkness consumes her.”

“I have one rock that looks like a quote bubble. I painted it black, outlined the quote bubble and it says, ‘She blooms even when darkness consumes her.’

“Now, it is not as big of a phase for Broome County Rocks,” Vincent continued. “It seems to have died down, but people loved it and my kids enjoyed it. So we continue it and now I use my own hashtag for my business: #rusticanchor.”

Vincent makes a variety of other things such as wooden signs, canvas magnets, make greeting cards, t-shirts, car decals, make jewelry, bookmarks and candles under her business. As for why Vincent chose the anchor it’s been something she’s always loved.

“I have always felt a deep draw to the ocean,” Vincent said. “I could never explain it and no idea why I really loved the anchor. After a deep discussion with James when we first got together, about my relationship with my dad, I talked to him about how we used to always go to Fenwick Island, Delaware when I was a kid … after some more discussion, James said that perhaps I like the ocean so much is because it reminds me of the times with my father and being at any ocean makes me feel closer to him.

“But then he said he thinks that I really like the anchor because he hears me talk about my dad being the one constant that hasn’t changed in my life despite me pushing him away for the majority of my life,” Vincent continued. “He concluded that maybe somewhere in my subconscious, the anchor symbol sums up how I feel about my dad. My dad has always been my anchor, the one that has never wavered in my life.”

See some more of Vincent’s rocks and other art, go to Facebook and put Rustic Anchor Design in the search bar.

Reach Katelin Gandee at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.