{"id":2458829,"date":"2026-06-14T10:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2458829"},"modified":"2026-06-14T10:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:06:34","slug":"how-new-orleans-504-rocks-group-hides-painted-rocks-entertainment-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-new-orleans-504-rocks-group-hides-painted-rocks-entertainment-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How New Orleans’ 504 Rocks group hides painted rocks | Entertainment\/Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Marie Gauthe-Joseph drives around with a large plastic box full of rocks in the trunk of her car. And in her purse.<\/p>\n

She has delicately painted each rock with a variety of designs \u2014 quirky pets, mermaids, colorful faces, hearts, cartoonish insects, flowers, and whimsical birds with giant eyes.<\/p>\n

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A 504 rock is hidden at the base of a tree near Metairie Road in Metairie, La., Thursday, May 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

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Left here and there in the course of an ordinary day, when she\u2019s going to the grocery store, or to a doctor\u2019s visit, or just during a work break around Sola Salon Studios in Metairie, where she\u2019s a hairstylist. She leaves them at ATMs, or curbsides in strip-mall parking lots. Obvious, maybe, but it depends on someone being curious enough to pick it up \u2014 or present enough to even notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI drop a rock everywhere I go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In a week, Gauthe-Joseph leaves 20 to 30 of them, and in the last four years, she estimates that she\u2019s strategically dropped more than 1,000.<\/p>\n

She oversees 504 Rocks, a popular Facebook group with over several thousand active members, as well as newcomers who check in to happily report finding one in the wild, responding to a cryptic sticker on the back that reads \u201c504 Rocks, Keep or Hide.\u201d Depending on the creator, it may include a QR code to the page.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that people are actually following instructions and posting them,\u201d Gauthe-Joseph said. The people who see them, and do reach out, \u201chave no idea who I am, and it just tickles me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like a swift-handed Easter Bunny, she rarely gets caught slipping a specially designed rock into a friend\u2019s purse when they aren\u2019t looking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marie Gauthe-Joseph holds one of her painted rocks at the Old Metairie Village shopping center in Metairie, La., Thursday, May 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

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For millennia, humans have painted on rocks. But in the past decade, ‘\u201ckindness rocks\u201d have become a global trend, making virtual communities for those who hide and those who seek. People discover, post and even pick up paintbrushes to add their own. There are several groups like 504 Rocks in Louisiana, including New Orleans Rocks, Slidell Painted Rocks, Jefferson Parish Rocks and a local statewide branch of the national Kindness Rocks Project.<\/p>\n

That sense of reach appealed to Gauthe-Joseph. Once she saw that there were kindness rocks pages everywhere, \u201cI was hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re meant to pique curiosity, brighten a day. Gauthe-Joseph, 55, says it\u2019s also her therapeutic self-care routine.<\/p>\n

But is there a bigger reason she does it? (Does there have to be?)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last year, one woman found a 504 Rock in Lafreniere Park and posted this comment to the page: \u201cYou have no idea what I\u2019ve been going through, and finding this rock made me feel like things were going to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

That right there could be reason enough.<\/p>\n

Story of the traveling rocks<\/h3>\n

The first rock she left was inside of Target. Minutes later, walking out, she noticed her rock was gone. A woman had already posted about finding it: a picture of a small boy in his car seat holding his new Snoopy character treasure, that Gauthe-Joseph\u2019s wife Reese had painted. Since then, Gauthe-Jospeh has geared her art style toward kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, that experience made me paint a gazillion more rocks,\u201d she said. She will even carry some specifically for kids and friends who need a smile. \u201cIf there\u2019s ever a kid screaming or crying at the salon, I will bring them a surprise and they love it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The rocks travel far and near, and people come to the page to show off their finds. One poster had coordinates in Paris (France, not Texas). Gauthe-Joseph doesn\u2019t know how it got that far, except that she does place rocks \u2014 at least 10 or so \u2014 whenever she\u2019s at the airport.<\/p>\n

A local couple found two of her crow-themed rocks and has since taken them on road trips across the country, with new updates on their whereabouts at least once a week.<\/p>\n

Erica Tome said she found a rainbow-and-white 504 Rock under a tree outside her Uptown house in New Orleans, a few weeks before her wedding day.<\/p>\n

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Erica Tome, resident in Uptown, found an inspirational 504 Rock near her house that reads \u201cSometimes the magic happens when you stop worrying.\u201d She found the rock soon before her wedding day in the spring of 2026.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSometimes the magic happens when you stop worrying,\u201d it said in colorful lettering, and she believed the rock was meant to find her. It inspired her to put aside the anxieties about the wedding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tome has no clue who left it. Gauthe-Joseph says it wasn\u2019t hers.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first 504 Rock Tome\u2019s seen. New rocks appear under the same hot spot by a tree outside her house nearly every week. She and her neighbor have discussed it, and neither have ever seen the person hiding them.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, the designs were simple hearts. But recently, one featured a riddle; a chicken, a marijuana leaf and the number pi \u2014 chicken pot pie.<\/em> So is it the same artist behind it all? Having been gifted several rocks, Tome said she is ready to redistribute some of her collection to the French Quarter and not keep them all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re meant to be shared,\u201d she said. \u201cWhoever paints them has a good heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She will point out the rocks on the ground to kids and passersby in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all need little pushes,\u201d Tome said. \u201cLittle love pushes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding the rock<\/h3>\n

Gauthe-Jospeh\u2019s hobby began near a creek, but she quickly realized that she probably shouldn\u2019t steal all the rocks nature had to offer. So she got the idea to make a rock by hand, using silicon molds and Cement All solution, lacquering them in a shiny coat. She also buys rocks from a landscaping outlet.<\/p>\n

With \u201cGolden Girls\u201d reruns on in the background, she spreads rocks out on the kitchen table in the mornings, and her wife may help with a couple.<\/p>\n

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Marie Gauthe-Joseph places one of her painted rocks near the Old Metairie Village shopping center in Metairie, La., Thursday, May 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love things that don\u2019t make sense, like flowers with faces. Whimsical and different. Abstract,\u201d she said. \u201cI keep it random and funny looking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marie Gauthe-Joseph hides a rock by an ATM near Metairie Road in Metairie, La., Thursday, May 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

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But Gauthe-Johnson wasn\u2019t the first person to hide a 504 Rock.<\/p>\n

That distinction goes to the group\u2019s founder, Karen Schaueilk, who started 504 Rocks in 2022 after being inspired by another kindness rock enthusiast who created Jefferson Parish Rocks. Schaueilk has since stepped down as administrator and handed the group over to Gauthe-Joseph after noticing her impressive dedication to the craft of hiding rocks.<\/p>\n

But she warned Gauthe-Joseph not to burn out, for it was easy to devote all her time to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I did was eat, sleep and drink rocks, you know, and it was really hard by myself,\u201d Schaueilk said.<\/p>\n

She hasn\u2019t stopped making them, leaving them. \u201cIt means a lot to me. It really, it was hard to give it up. It\u2019s my baby.\u201d She paints 504 Rocks with acrylic pens in her laundry room next to a window she loves, many days of the week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marie Gauthe-Joseph shows the camera the sticker on the back of one of her painted rocks at the Old Metairie Village shopping center in Metairie, La., Thursday, May 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

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Her rocks are in parks, neighborhood shrubs, the post office, elementary school areas, outside hospitals, and \u201cevery restaurant I\u2019ve ever been to,\u201d Schaueilk said. (Once, she painted a Christmas igloo rock and hid it in a Robert’s grocery store freezer case.)<\/p>\n

The rocks brought her new friends and even some recognition: \u2018Yesterday I got my toes done, and I got asked, \u2018You\u2019re the rock lady, aren\u2019t you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Gauthe-Joseph has hidden thousands of rocks, she has only ever found one herself. On a usual rock drop to Total Wine, she noticed a rock that was not hers. (Quick double take.) It was a 504 Rock from a different member.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started jumping up and down. I looked around to make sure no one was looking at me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marie Gauthe-Joseph drives around with a large plastic box full of rocks in the trunk of her car. And in her purse. She has delicately painted each rock with a variety of designs \u2014 quirky pets, mermaids, colorful faces, hearts, cartoonish insects, flowers, and whimsical birds with giant eyes. A 504 rock is hidden at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2458830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/How-New-Orleans-504-Rocks-group-hides-painted-rocks.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458831,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458829\/revisions\/2458831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2458830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}