F6d .G7S -f- pyith the Compliments oi EARLY MILE-STONES LEADING FROM BOSTON; AND MILE-STONES AT GROTON. BY SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN. Glass M^^Cjl^ // / / EARLY MILE-STONES LEADING FROM BOSTON; AND MILE-STONES AT GROTON. BY SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN. / ■ 3^2- Set thee up wayniarks, ... set thine heart toward the highway, . . . Jkremiaii, xxxi. 21. CAMBRIDGE: JOHN WILSON AND SON. Slnibersttp |3rtS8. 1909. From the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society FOR January, 1909. Gin Ifli ^vi.CL'.Ql nSLQA/^ . EARLY MILE-STONES LEADING FROM BOSTON; AND ISIILE-STONES AT GROTON. At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical So- ciety held in Boston on Tliursday, January 14, 1909, Dr. Samuel A. Green communicated the following paper : — The earliest legislation in this Commonwealth on the subject of Guide-posts bears date February 28, 17U5. At that time an Act was passed by the General Court requiring the Selectmen of the several towns and districts, under certain conditions, to erect Guide-posts at the corners and angles of all roads in such towns and districts ; and imposing penalties for non-compliance with the law. Before that time, in a few towns, individuals had set up stones by the roadside, marking the distance and direction to some important town ; and these persons often added their own initials, as well as the year when the stones were placed. Numerous mile-stones are now to be found by roadsides on the way from Boston to Milton, Providence, and Cambridge. It is known that some of these stones were set up by Paul Dudley, Chief-Justice of the Province, as they bear his name or initials ; and probably others were, though they do not bear them. In the eighteenth century it was not uncommon for a well-to-do man in the community to place mile-stones by the roadside along tlie main thoroughfares mostly for the con- venience of wayfarers, but perhaps partly for his own glorifi- cation, as he often added his own initials to the inscri[)tions. In speaking of the C-hief-Justice, our late associate Dr. Na- thaniel B. Shurtleff says : "He was buried in the tomb of his fathers; but his epitaphs are only to be read on the numerous mile stones that skirt the roads in Norfolk County. One of these, erected in 1744, may be seen near the Norfolk House, at the corner of Centre and Washington streets, on Eliot square, . . . This old Parting Stone has undoubtedly pointed the way to what was once considered the termination of civ- ilization." (Topographical History of Boston, p. 274.) The first inscription is on the front of the stone and faces Eliot Square ; THE PARTING STONE i;^4<4< P DUDLEY and the other inscriptions appear, respectively, on the south- erly and northerly sides. DEDHAM vDUnnr CAMBRIDGE X ^^UUL WATERTOVW ISLAND Leaving the Parting Stone at tlie corner of Roxbury and Centre Streets, — as known to-day, — in Eliot Square, Rox- bury, the right-hand road led off to Cambridge, and was the nearest way to that town, as then there was no bridge over the Charles River from Boston. The left-hand road led to Providence by the way of Dedham ; and at that peiiod each of these roads was flanked by stones marking the miles for a considerable distance. Most of these wayside monuments bear the initials " P D," which point to the man who caused them to be erected. Several of the stones are now missing, but some still remain. The distance was taken from the Town-house in Boston, now known as the Old State House. The following entries in Chief-Justice Sewall's Diary show this fact : Feria secimda, July, 14t> 1707. Mr. Antram and I, having Benj. Smitli and David to wait on us, Measured witli his Wheel from the Tofwu-House Two Miles, and drove down Stakes at each Mile's end, in oi-der to placing Stone-posts in convenient time. From the Town- House to the Oak and Walnut, is a Mile wanting 21^ Rods. Got home again about Eight aclork (ii. 192). Feria guinta, Aug* 7V' 1707. Peter Weare set up the Stone Post to shew a Mile from the Town-House ends : Silence Allen, Mr. Gib- bons's Son, Mr. Thrasher, Salter, W™ Wheelers Simpson and a Carter assisted, made a Plumb- Line of his Whip. Being Lecture- day, I sent David with Mr. Weare to shew him where the second should be set; were only two little Boys besides (ii. 193). When Judge Sewall made his measurement of the distances from the Town-liouse, the neck of land connecting Roxbury with the peninsula was a very narrow strip along the water's edge, not wholly straight but conforming to the shore line. Since that period of time some streets have been straightened, and others laid out anew, but in this paper, for the sake of convenience, I shall use in each instance the modern name of the several streets mentioned. According to Bonner's Map of Boston, published in 1722, the first mile-stone from the Town-house was placed on the west side of Washington Street, near Lucas Street. The sec- ond stone was set, probably, near Willard Place, a little south of Camden Street. These two stones, mentioned by Sewall in 6 his Diary, began the series which at a later period was con- tinued by Dudley and Belcher, hereinafter to be described. On the way to Cambridge three stones are still standing, B OSTON 4 MILES PD Boston Smiles 1729 P D which mark the fourth, fifth, and seventh miles, respectively, all bearing the " P D " initials. The fourth stone stands on the inner side of the walk, against the board fence surround- ing; the grounds of the House of the Good Shepherd. The fifth stone stands in the grounds of the Plarvard Church, Brookline ; and the sixth has disappeared. The seventh stone BOSTON 7 MILES fj 29 PD stands in the yard of the Primary School-house, North Har- vard Street, Brighton. The fifth and seventh stones were placed originally on the opposite side of the street. The eighth stone in the series once stood in Harvard Square, Cambridge, ending the line of guide-posts in that direction, though it does not belong to the Dudley group. It stood originally near the town-house in the Square, at what was later the fork of the roads, — one going by the old road to Brighton, then a part of Cambridge, Brookline, and Roxi)ury, and the other toward Boston. It bore on the front face tiie following inscription : Boston 8 MILES 1734 A I This distance was by the old road through Brookline and Roxbury ; and the two initial letters stand for Abraham Ireland, a surveyor of that period. More than a half cen- tury after the stone was originally set, the West Boston Bridge — now represented by the Cambridge Bridge — was opened in the autumn of 179l, wSon another inscription was placed on the rear face. Thus the stone was made to do double duty as a guide- post, though after that year the new bridge must have taken all the travel going to Boston. Tlie Harvard Square mile-stone has had a curious history ; and as Mr. John Langdon Sibley, the most munificent bene- factor of the Historical Society, was interested in it, and had a hand in one of its new placings, I give here a detailed ac- count of it. In some digging by the town authorities, — or perhaps in the removal of the old market, wliich took place about 1830, — the stone, no longer needed, became buried in the rubbish, and thus was lost to sight. Many years after- ward, in building the hay scales, it came to view again when with other stones it was carried to the city stables to be broken up or used as dumping material. 9 The inscription on the rear face is as follows : CAMBRIDGE New Bridge 2i Miles J794 Moses King, in his '• Harvard and its Surroundings" (1882), has the following paragraph : We are now in the vicinity of the " Old Mile Stone " that projects above the curh on the west side of the college yard near Dane Hall. The librarian enoeritus [Mr. Sibley] found the stone after it had been for many years lost to public view, and planted it near the spot where it was originally placed by the surveyor, Abraham Ireland, whose initials form part of the inscription (p. 77). At an earlier time, perhaps as late as 1865 or 1870, the stone had been placed between the sidewalk and the curbstone, where it attracted considerable attention. It stood just north of the present entrance to the gate erected by the Class of 1875 ; and it always caused comment on the part of those who could not explain the fact that it was eight miles to Boston. The stone remained here, near the edge of the sidewalk, for perhaps 10 twenty or twenty-five years, until 1892, when it was removed across the street to its present site in the Burying-ground, where it stands at the north-east corner. It was largely through the efforts of Mr. George Savil Saunders, at that time chairman of the Cemetery Commission, that this last change was made. The public owes much to him and his brother, the late William Augustus Saunders, for the intelligent interest which they both took in saving the stone. It seems unlikely that this old mile-stone will ever be dis- turbed again ; and now that its use has long been superseded, it accords with the fitness of things that it should stand near the grave of Abraham Ireland, — as shown by Harris's Cam- bridge Epitaphs (p. 104), — who first set it up as a public utility. Leaving the Parting Stone again, and taking the left-hand road, which led off to Dedham and Providence, we find now the third, fourth, fifth (at Jamaica Plain), and sixth mile- stones, flanking Centre Street (the third stone not marked " P D "). The numeration of these miles began at the Town- house in Boston ; and the series of stones placed by Paul Dudley was a continuation of those already set up by Judge Sewall. The stone marking the third mile in the Dudley series stands Boston SMILES 17 2-9 11 on the southerly side of Centre Street, diagonally opposite to and easterly of Gardner Street, on the inside of the sidewalk. Size of the stone: 30 inches wide, 23 inches high, and 7 inches thick. The fourth stone stood near Forbes Street, nearly opposite to Creighton Street. On August 10, 1880, it was taken up by Mr. Elisha Charles Burford, trimmed down and set in the re- taining wall in front of his house, at 364 Centre Street. Size : 21 inches wide, 15 inches high, and 11 inches thick. The fifth stone stands near the northerly corner of Eliot Street, on the inside of the sidewalk. Size : 32 inches wide, 45 inches high, and 10 inches thick. The sixth stone — the last one in the Dudley series on this line — is found opposite to Allandale Street, placed in the wall on the easterly side of Centre Street. • Size : 27 inches wide, and 45 inches high. Another mile-stone on the way to Providence stands in Walpole, twenty miles from Boston, and was placed origi- nally by Ezekiel Robbins, the keeper of the Brass Ball tavern in that town. A cut of this stone is given in the lower half of page 13. The following account of it is taken from the "Dedham Historical Register" for April, 1000: 12 Dosion Townhomc An old milestone, . . . bearing the inscription stood on the southerly side of West Street, a little beyond the tavern, the place chosen mark- ing a relay on the oldest stage road to Providence. The stone was dug out and allowed to lie forgotten for some time after the road was widened, until about five years ago, when Mr. Wilmarth, one of the 13 I75^:PD ER •20 KSION 1140 14 old residents, rescued it from possible loss and placed it before the town hall, where it now stands (xi. 35). pi Another series of Paul-Dudley stones is found going toward Milton, in continuation of the Sewall stones, which ended near Camden Street in Boston. In eai'ly times there were two roads to Milton, — both begin- ning at different points in Washington Street, Roxbury, and passing through Dorchester, — which were known as the upper road and the lower road. For the sake of convenience I use the modern name of streets in describing these two thor- oughfares. The upper one in the main followed the way now represented by Warren Street and by Washington Street, Dorchester ; and the lower one, the way now represented by Eustis and Adams Streets and other connecting links ; and they both come together at the Lower Mills, on the Dorchester side of the Neponset River. In more recent times these two old roads in certain places have been widened and straightened so much that it is difficult to give exactly their course along modern streets. \73S PD 15 On the upper road to Milton, here mentioned, stands a " P D " stone at Grove Hall marking four miles from Boston, but the third mile-stone on this road is now missing, though it was in place twenty years ago. A longer time ago — perhaps twenty-five years — there stood aiiother stone on the westerly side of Washington Street, Dor- chester, near School Street, — which marked the fifth mile from Boston, — but this is now gone. It is not known to-day by whom it was placed. A sixth mile-stone in this series is found at the south corner of Mora Street, but it does not belong to the Paul-Dudley group. I draw this inference from the fact that the stone itself is of a different style in the cutting, though the meaning of the letters or characters there seen is obscure, — perhaps they stood for names of persons. Along the lower road was another series of stones marking distances from the Town-house in Boston, which were placed probably by Jonathan Belcher, Governor of the Province, who bought an estate at Milton in the year 1727. This group was a continuation of the Sewall series, as was the Dudley group, although some of the stones are now missing. HEMMS WC M to B ^ 16 The third stone stood probably near Clarence Street, but is now gone. The fourth stone stood opposite to Trull Street, but in recent times it has been removed from the original site and set up at the left of the entrance to the building of the Dorchester Historical Society, formerly known as the Blake house, situated in Pond Street. 4 Miles From Boft-on Town Hous 17 Ji The following inscription on a wooden tablet affixed to the house has been placed just above the stone : Old Dorchester Mile Stone erkcted during the ADMINISTRATION OF GoV. BeLCHER IN 1734 ON Hancock opposite Trvll St. Removed to this spot ON DoRCHKSTER Day June 8, 1907. A volume (^p. 117) containing the proceedings on this oc- casion was published by the city of Boston, which has as a frontispiece a half-tone print of the stone, together with a group of persons who took part in the exercises. 17 The fifth stone, perhaps placed between Leonard and Dickens Streets, has now disappeared ; and also the sixth stone somewhere near Aslimont Sti-eet. The seventh stone stood on Adams Street, opposite to the south corner of Dorchester Park. It bears the following inscription : 7 Miles lo Eoflon To"wn = riou{e, I73¥- H The Rev. Albert K. Teele, in his "History of Milton, Mass." (1887), while writing of this stone, says : There is a stone of the same [Belcher] line built into the wall on the south side of Adams street, Dorchester, a few rods from the end ot Richmond street, and others may be found at points nearer Boston (p. 112). Some years later, perhaps in 1895, this stone was removed from its original site across the street and built into the wall of the Dorchester Park by the Park Commission. Size : the stone of which only the face shows, 22 inches wide and 30 inches high. In the wall on the north side of Adams Street, on the top of Milton Hill, near the entrance to the estate of the late Colonel Oliver W. Peabody, and a short distance south of the Hutchinson Field, is the eighth mile-stone of tiie Belcher group, last of the series now standing. 18 n i 1 e^ to B.Townhoufe The Lower way. J73if. Size : 21 inches wide, 24 inches high, and 7 inches thick. B B Size : 16 inches wide, 30 inches high, and about 8 inches thick. 19 n23 Size : 15 inches wide, 45 inches high, and sides join at back, 12 inches. There was formerly a ninth mile -stone of the Belcher group, — which was the end of that series, — but this has now disappeared. Mr. Teelc, in his Histor}' (p. 112), thus alludes to it: " Another Belcher stone originally stood a few feet north of the avenue to Mrs. Payson's house." Her estate forms now a part of the old Belcher propert}', the entrance to which is on the south side of Adams Street. A " platway drawn by James Blake, indicating the position and line of these stones is in the possession of Edmund J. Baker" (Teele, p. 112), but this manuscript cannot be found. Now let us go back to the sixth stone in the line of the Paul-Dudley group, mentioned on page 15, but which does not belong to that group. The seventh mile-stone (1722) stands in front of the house of Asaph Churchill at Milton, on the west side of the road, very near the stone wall. It is about 25 rods south of the eighth stone in the Belcher scries, which stands on the other 20 side of the road near the Peabody place. It will be seen that the distances marked by the stones of the two series vary, as shown on page 18, which is due to the fact that they approach this point by different routes. The eighth mile-stone (1723) is " near Mr. Breck'aat East tihton 'Vf Teele, p. 113), and is placed a little way ISl^ of the Church. The ninth stone stands in Quincy, on the south side of Adams Street, opposite the Newcorab estate. 1 7 JO IN Size : 19 inches wide, 39 inches high, and 15 inches thick. A cut of this stone forms the frontispiece to Mr. Charles Francis Adams's Centennial Address at Quincy, on July 4, 1892. In the reproduction, apparently the letters on the stone had been recently painted in order to bring them out more clearly, and the figure " 3 " in the year 1730 was thus changed to a " 2." Mr. Adams says : " Not a day passes but some one looks with interest on the single ancient milestone of 1720 [1730?] which still within Quincy hmits marks the old Plymouth road. Rude, rough and ill-proportioned, it has cut 21 upon it, besides the distance from Boston and tlie date, the initials J. N., — standing, I am told, for ' Ca|)t. Lieut.' Joseph Neal, as he is designated on his gravestone in the burying- ground opposite " (p. 8). The tenth stone stood originally in its proper place by the roadside, but forty years ago, more or less, it was broken into pieces, and only a fragment saved, which was built into the wall in front of the house of the late Lemuel Brackett. The piece is seen near the central part of the cit}', and bears only the following : 10 The eleventh stone stood near the so-called Adams houses at the foot of Penn's Hill, but long ago it disappeared and no trace of it now remains. 12 IM1727IH 22 The twelfth stone stands on the rising ground beyond the southern slope of Penn's Hill, on the easterly side of the road, and comes within the town limits of Braintree. Through the efforts of the late Samuel A. Bates, town-clerk and accom- plished antiquar}', this stone was saved from ignoble uses, where it " might stop a hole " or cover a drain. Mr. Adams, in the Appendix to his address, gives an inter- esting account of the mile-stones in Quincy, which fits so well into my paper that I reprint it, as follows : The ninth, the first of the series in Quincy, is referred to in the text, and is reproduced in the frontispiece to this Address. At least one attempt has been made to remove aujd " utilize " this stone for some such purpose as repairing a wall or covering a drain ; but the emphatic objection of members of the Newcomb family, whose house stood oppo- site to it, prevented, in this case, an act of stupid and ignorant desecra- tion. The tenth stone — an historical landmark in Old Braintree and Quincy — stood in its proper place by the roadside in the centre of the town, until one day, some twenty years ago, a stone-mason, building one of those fortifications known as ornamental stone walls in front of the house of the late Lemuel Brackett, seized upon it, tore it up and cut it to pieces, and inserted a portion of it in the wretched wall he was constructing. The portion thus preserved bears the initial letter, " B," and the distance figures (10) from Boston ; the rest of the stone is gone. The eleventh milestone stood close to the so-called Adams houses at the foot of Penu's Hill. Less fortunate than the tenth, this milestone wholly disappeared years ago, and no trace of it remains. It was probably taken possession of by the masons engaged in building the Samuel Curtis house in 1830 (Quincy Patriot^ Oct. 26, 1889) ; and they, with no idea whatever of the act of desecration they were committing, not improbably used it in common with the stones of the old boundary wall, near the street end of which it is said to have stood, as foundation ma- terial. Indeed, the tradition is that all this stone was " utilized " for the underpinning of the barn built close behind the house, and still standing. If such is the case, it is within the bounds of possibility that the old eleventh milestone may yet be recovered, and restored to the place where it stood for more than a century. The twelfth mile- stone still stands on the rising ground beyond the southern slope of Penn's Hill, on the easterly side of the road. It bears, besides the indications of distance the date (1727), two sets of initials, I. M. and I. H. I have not ascertained of whom they are commemorative. Some years ago a highly utilitarian surveyor of highways seized on this stone as a handy cover for a drain or culvert he was engaged in con- structing. Fortunately this act of vandalism came to the knowledge of 23 Samuel A. Bates, the veteran town clerk and antiquarian of Rraiiitree, who bestirred himself in time, and was lucky enough to induce the selectmen to interfere and preserve the memorial (pp. 41, 42). OP Eff 36IVIiles| to Charles-R-, Bridge. 787. At the present time there are several raile-stones in Groton which were set up during the eighteenth century. Two of them certainly were placed by Dr. Oliver Prescott, younger brother of Colonel William Prescott, who commanded the 24 American forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill; and two others were set up, probably either by him or at his suggestion, during the same period. They all are of slate ; and the largest stands by the roadside, at the southerly end of the village street, on the easterly side of the way, near the fork of the roads and close by the entrance to Mr. Lawrence Park's estate. The stone is between five and six feet in height, and is shaped somewhat like a capital letter P of colossal size, the upper part being considerably broader than the lower part, though the resemblance is not very close. The Charles River Bridge, leading from Boston to Charles- town, was opened on June 17, 1786, and soon became a promi- nent point to people living in Middlesex County. Some vandal has tried to chip off " Esqf " after the initials, but the letters can still be made out. The Reverend William Bentley, D.D., of Salem, in his Diary, recently published by the Essex Institute, gives an account of a trip which he made to Dartmouth College in the summer of 1793. On his way there he passed through Groton, and mentions this stone together with other entries in his journal which now are of interest. He writes : We dined at Bollan's [in Chelmsford] & paid l"" /, our engagement being to have no charges for the horsemen & his horses, & at ^ past 3 set out for Groton. ... As we entered Westford we saw the best corn, & the best tobacco, & a few small hop yards. Corn being planted in all the farms & a patch of tobacco near many of the barns, & some towns through which we passed are remarkable for hops. . . . From the rough roads we passed over several miles of pines & sandy land, & soon were relieved with the elegant seat of G.[eneral Oliver] Prescot, & the Buildings of his Son about h mile below him. The seat is opposite to the Boston road which at this place enters into the cross road to Worcester. . . . Gen. Prescot house has near it a stone shewing that it is 36 miles to Boston & 30 miles to Worcester. Called at the General's & found an elegant House in good order, but he was not within (ii. 41, 42). Another stone, about three feet high, stands in close prox- imity, just beyond the crotch, on the westerly side of the road. On this stone, also, an attempt has been made to chisel off the word " Esq." The inscription reads : 25 O. P. Esq. Miles to Worcester 1783 A third stone, about three feet in height, stands near the Groton School, on the easterly side of Farmers' Row, at the south corner of Peabody Street and was set up probably by Dr. Prescott. The top has been broken off, but the inscription remains, as folhjws : 29 Miles to Worcester. In front of the old tavern in the village, now known as the Groton Inn, is a fourth stone, belonging to the same period of time, standing out of the ground about a foot and a half, and perhaps set up by Dr. Prescott, which bears these words : To Boston • 35 On the north side of the Great Road to Boston there is a slate slab, about four feet in height, which bears the following inscription : To Boston 34 26 The stone stands about a mile from the village, near Cady Pond. It is not known when or by whom it was put up ; but probably the date goes back to the eighteenth century. The width near the top is about fourteen inches. According to the guide-board at the nortli-west corner of the Common, the distance from Groton to Boston is thirty-four miles ; and this is considered to be correct. In the years 1902 and 1903 the selectmen caused to be set up, on the several roads leading to the outer limits of the town, granite posts marking the distance of each mile from the Town-house. Twentj^-eight such stones have been thus placed by the road- side for the benefit of the wayfarer; and they stand about two and a half feet out of the ground. It may not be amiss here to note the fact that there was formerly some lettering on a boulder in an old wall that stood within a few feet of the mile-stone mentioned at the top of page 25. It bears the initials of Dr. Oliver Prescott as well as those of his grandfather who more than a century previously had cut his own initials on the same stone. It is possible that this inscription in the old wall first suggested to Dr. Prescott the idea of erecting mile-stones in close proximity to the boulder. The inscription on the boulder is as follows : I P i68o Rebuilt by O P rebuilt by S. J. Park I 841. The initials I. P. are those of Jonas Prescott, — rudely cut, undoubtedly by himself, as he was a blacksmith, — and O. P. are those of his grandson Dr. Oliver Prescott. S. J. Park was Stuart James Park, the great-giand father of Mr. Lawrence Park who now owns the adjacent land. 2l Jonas Prescott was an active man in the affairs of the town, and the ancestor of a long line of distinguished families. He was the grandfather of Colonel William Prescott, commander of the American Forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill, who was himself the father of William Prescott the lawyer and jurist, and the grandfather of William Hickling Prescott the historian. In the year 1876 this piece of stone wall containing the boulder and separating a parfe of the Prescott house-lot from the highway was removed. Three years after it was taken away, I endeavored to find the stone, then to all intents and purposes lost; and it was a long while before I got any trace of it. The late Willard H. Giles, at that time the owner of the farm, knew nothing about it, and in fact had never seen it. I was told, however, that it might have been used in stoning up the cellar of a barn built in 1876, and here I directed my search. With Mr. Giles's permission I employed two men for two days to take out and replace various stones, until the missing one was found. Subsequently I gave the memorial to Mr. James Lawrence, a lineal descendant of Jonas Prescott, who has had it set in the wall on the north side of his front gate on Farmers' Row, where it is likely to remain for many years. It may not be amiss to give here the derivation of the word " mile," which comes from the Latin mille. With the Romans a mile was a thousand steps, or paces (mille passman) ; and thus the word has come down to us in our^ daily speech. 014 012 626 3