1767 Milestones Explained

1767 Milestones
Nrhp Type:hd
Nocat:yes
Location:Massachusetts between Springfield and Boston
Area:less than one acre
Built:various dates; many pursuant to a policy dating to 1767
Added:April 7, 1971
Refnum:71000084, 85003300[1]

The 1767 Milestones are historic milestones located along the route of the Upper Boston Post Road between the cities of Boston and Springfield in Massachusetts. The 40 surviving milestones were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Massachusetts has a total of 129 surviving milestones including those along the upper Post Road.[2] The stones are so named, despite having been placed in many different years, because of a 1767 directive of the Province of Massachusetts Bay that such stones be placed along major roadways. The state highway department was directed in 1960 to undertake their preservation. Many of them underwent a major restoration in 2018.[3]

The first stone was erected by Paul Dudley, one of the prominent citizens of early 18th century Massachusetts, in Roxbury, which was at the time a separate community. Roxbury was located at the end of the Boston Neck, a narrow isthmus separating the mainland from the Shawmut Peninsula, where Boston was located. Travelers going by land from Boston to other areas had to travel over the neck and through Roxbury to reach their destinations. The Roxbury junction where Dudley placed the first stone was where several routes branched, heading south and west across New England.

Dudley erected several stones along the road from Boston to Cambridge which wound its way from Beacon Hill along what is now Washington Street through the Dudley Square area to what is now Huntington Avenue, then along Harvard Street through Brookline Village, Coolidge Corner, and Allston crossing into Cambridge at the Great Bridge, where modern JFK Street in Cambridge becomes North Harvard Street in Allston. The stones that Dudley erected have the initials PD on them, usually at the bottom of the stone.[4] The most chatty of these milestones (not part of this collection), is inscribed P Dudley rather than PD, and is located on the corner of Centre and South Streets in Jamaica Plain.

The stones listed for miles 23 through 29 in Wayland and Sudbury are actually guideposts rather than milestones, and do not list any mileage. They were erected at road intersections rather than at the mile marks. The stones are quarried granite posts with plug & feather tool marks and post-date 1800.

Miles
to Boston
Year
Placed
ImageLocationTownNotes
011741Centre and Roxbury Streets
42.33°N -71.0914°W
Boston, RoxburyThis stone is called the "Parting Ways Stone".
041729841 Huntington Avenue
42.3325°N -71.1117°W
Boston, Mission HillEngraved "Boston 4 Miles 1729 PD".
051729210 Harvard St.
42.34°N -71.1214°W
BrooklineEngraved "Boston 5 Miles 1729 PD".
061729142 Harvard Ave.
42.3519°N -71.1316°W
Boston, BrightonEngraved "Boston 6 Miles 1729 PD".
071729240 N. Harvard St.
42.3616°N -71.13°W
Boston, BrightonEngraved "Boston 7 Miles 1729 PD".
081734Old Burial Ground
(Mass. Ave. and Garden St.)
42.3747°N -71.1194°W
CambridgeEngraved "Boston 8 Miles 1734 AI" on the front, and "Cambridge New Bridge Miles 1794" on the back.
23River Road and Water Row
42.3706°N -71.3867°W
Wayland
24Route 20 and Landham Road
42.3608°N -71.4022°W
Sudbury
25Route 20 and Concord Road
42.3622°N -71.4164°W
Sudbury
26Route 20 and Nobscot Road
42.36°N -71.425°W
Sudbury
27listed at Boston Post Road and Dudley Road
42.36°N -71.4368°W
SudburyListed as missing in 2009 state survey.
28Route 20 and Peakham Road
42.3597°N -71.4589°W
Sudbury
29Wayside Inn Road and Dutton Road
42.3578°N -71.4719°W
Sudbury
33143 E. Main St.
42.3289°N -71.6236°W
NorthboroughEngraved "33 Miles to Boston".
35Boston Post Road and Dean Park
42.2958°N -71.6953°W
ShrewsburyEngraved "Boston 35 Springfield 65 Albany 165".
43c.1760West Main St. Near town common
42.2931°N -71.7494°W
ShrewsburyEngraved "43 Mile to Boston".
47Lincoln St.
42.2781°N -71.7944°W
Worcester
48Originally at 139 Salisbury St.
42.2651°N -71.8044°W
WorcesterMoved to 30 Elm Street (Worcester Historical Museum) c. 2007
It was reported to be in storage there in January 2014.
53Route 9 at Collier's Corner
42.24°N -71.8861°W
Leicester
54Originally at Main St. east of Paxton St.
42.2453°N -71.9083°W
LeicesterStolen and recovered in the 1990s; relocated to museum space in local library in 1996. Now on the Leicester town common. An unmarked replica is embedded in a stone wall just west of Paxton on the south side of Main Street.
56Between 1676 and 1710 Main St. (Route 9)
42.2506°N -71.9444°W
LeicesterOpposite Leicester Drive-In.
57500 Main St. (Route 9)
42.2558°N -71.9558°W
LeicesterIn front of the Spencer Country Inn.
58 325 Main St. (Route 9)
42.2517°N -71.9761°W
Spencer
59Route 9, Spencer Shopper's Village
42.2461°N -71.9889°W
Spencer
60Route 9 at Dewey St.
42.2367°N -72.0078°W
Spencer
61133 West Main St. (Route 9)
42.2311°N -72.0278°W
Spencer
62west of 324 East Main St. (Route 9)
42.2272°N -72.0444°W
East BrookfieldStone has been reengraved with loss of integrity.
63184 North Brookfield Rd.
42.2283°N -72.0669°W
East Brookfield
64Elm Hill Rd., near North Brookfield line
42.2303°N -72.0792°W
Brookfield
65Elm Hill Rd., east of North Brookfield Rd.
42.2217°N -72.0944°W
Brookfield
66East of 31 West Main St. (Route 9)
42.2158°N -72.1081°W
Brookfield
67102 Foster Hill Rd.
42.2258°N -72.1206°W
West Brookfield
68East end of town common
42.2361°N -72.1375°W
West Brookfield
69147 West Main St. (Route 9)
42.2336°N -72.1561°W
West Brookfield
70Route 67 near Old Patrick Rd.
42.2219°N -72.1728°W
Warren
71Burbank and Washington Sts.
(behind/north side of 129 Washington St.)
42.2128°N -72.1831°W
Warren
72Bemis and Washington Rds.
42.2019°N -72.1894°W
WarrenNow in front of Warren Congregational Church; relocated after 1970.
73North side of Baypath Rd.
42.1981°N -72.2056°W
Warren
74970 Read St., east of West Warren Rd.
42.1858°N -72.2217°W
Warren
991763State St. at Federal St. (Springfield Armory)
42.1069°N -72.5794°W
SpringfieldKnown as the "Wait Guide Stone". Inscribed-


Replica placed in 2010.[5] Original in storage at the Armory Museum.

Source unless otherwise cited: NRHP nomination papers[6]

See also

Notes and References

  1. first refnum is for all milestones; second is for Brookline, Harvard Avenue stone
  2. Book: Gage. Mary E.. Gage. James E.. Milestones & Guideposts of Massachusetts and Southeastern New Hampshire. 2014. Powwow River Books. Amesbury, MA. 978-0-9816141-7-5. 155–160 .
  3. Web site: MassDOT Completes Milestone Marker Preservation Project. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. June 5, 2018. February 16, 2021.
  4. Web site: Jamaica Plain Historical Society - 'Colonial Era' Editor - - Colonial Stones Mark Miles from Old Roxbury to Old State House . 2011-07-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110613191713/http://www.jphs.org/colonial/colonial-stones-mark-miles-from-old-roxbury-to-old-state-house.html . 2011-06-13 . dead .
  5. News: Rivais . Larry . 13 April 2010 . Springfield honors its past with replica of historic Wait Boston Road Marker . The Republican . Springfield, MA . 15 October 2017 .
  6. Web site: NRHP Nomination for 1767 Milestones. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2011-08-29. 2011-10-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20111002162610/http://mhc-macris.net/Details.aspx?MhcId=BOS.9416. live.