Historical records reveal that at one time there were 370 stones, but onlyġ30 had survived by the 195Os. Missing or damaged would be ordered to be replaced. The Marches, later taking place on Landemer Day. Inspection is from 1664 and it became known as the Redding or Riding of The boundary and stones were inspected by the Provost, magistrates andīurgh officials at least once every three years. These stones are typical of those known from 1876 (below left) and 1885 (below right). The stones vary a great deal, although stones erected in the same year are often very similar. Many stones are marked with a letter ‘R’ for Rutherglen. The oldest stone, known only from photographs, was dated 1574. Stone marked with their initials and the year. The burgh) was required to provide, at their own expense, a boundary The cage of Northeast 3 suffered a similar collision in recent years as well, though the already half-sunken stone itself avoided serious damage.The stones were originally erected around the royaltyīoundary of the burgh to mark its territory and maintain its identity.Īccording to tradition, every new burgess (a citizen granted privileges in Its cage was smashed as it was knocked off its base - it has since been put back into place. Northeast 3 in crushed cage, image by Mark Zimmermann (CC BY 2.0)Ī particularly well-preserved stone (at least until recently), Southeast 6, was run over by a car less than a decade ago. Excavators lifted it along with its base from the soil and set it back on the surface. This stone was later found eight feet underground in its mangled iron cage after some historical research and mapping. One such lost stone, Southeast 8, was replaced in the mid-1900s, but its replacement was buried during a subsequent construction project. Several were repositioned, removed, lost, or buried during construction projects.” Boundary stones as documented by Fred Woodward in the early 1900s But “despite DAR’s care and attention,” reports Boundary Stones dot org, “many of the stones fell on hard times during the mid-1900s. 1908 composite photo of boundary stones and their sites prior to fencing in 1915Ĭiting his findings, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) began wrapping the stones in iron fences for protection. He subsequently recommended metal cages for preservation purposes. Remarkably, 36 of the markers were still in place when Fred Woodward went to photograph and map them in 1905, albeit in various states of decay. All four sides of boundary stone Southeast 6Įach stone featured the inscription “Jurisdiction of the United States” on one side and “Maryland” or “Virginia” on the other, along with the year of their placement and distance from the first stone. Today, it is tucked into the seawall of a lighthouse, locked behind a metal gate in a concrete box. A ceremonial stone from 1794 still sits along the Potomac River at Jones Point, right where President George Washington asked his surveyors to start. The survey team tasked with marking out the boundary of the District of Columbia worked clockwise around the proposed diamond starting with the southern tip. But over the years, weathering, urban development, and other factors have taken a toll on the stones themselves.” South corner stone within seawall, image by Something Original (CC BY-SA 3.0) “Lining the current and former boundaries of Washington, D.C., these are the boundary stones of our nation’s capital …. “The oldest set of federally placed monuments in the United States are strewn along busy streets, hidden in dense forests, lying unassumingly in residential front yards and church parking lots,” writes Tim St. And while a majority of these 40 markers still exist today, their conditions vary and each one has come to tell its own unique story over the centuries. Dividing up land previously belonging to Maryland and Virginia, a diamond spanning ten miles on each side was marked at each mile with a similar stone. The Residence Act of 1790 called for the creation of a new capital city for the United States.
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