Happy 4th of July!
July is the busiest month for our national parks, and coincidentally, it’s National Parks & Recreation Month.
Woodward, F. E. (1906) Chart showing the original boundary milestones of the District of Columbia. [?] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
In the United States, there are 63 National Parks and 370 national monuments, preserves and historical parks. Additionally, 3,729 state parks are also available for outdoor activities. Activities include the usual, sight-seeing, hiking, fishing, camping, and visiting museums to geocaching, ziplining, bungee-jumping, sandboarding, spelunking, canyoneering and more. It’s wonderful that we have many beautiful parks set aside for everyone to enjoy.
Interestingly, our oldest federal monuments are not protected by designation as a national park or reserve. The 40 stone monuments that mark the border of Washington, D.C. are protected only by metal fences placed around the markers in 1915 by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Despite that, several stones have been repositioned, removed, lost, or buried over the years.
The monument origin story
Back in 1789, Congress set aside a 10-mile square district on the shores of the Potomac as the site of the new capitol for the United States. At the time, this area was sparsely populated and included farms, hills, swamps and forests. It was hard to imagine this land becoming the site of a powerful capitol city. Fortunately, President Washington had the foresight to enlist the help of Pierre L’Enfant, a French city planner and surveyors Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Bannaker.
Harris & Ewing, photographer. (1922) District of Columbia boundary stone. Washington D.C. Washington D.C. District of Columbia United States, 1922. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Within three months, the team of Ellicott, Bannaker and supporting crews had placed 40 monuments marking the boundary of the Capitol City. This was done using celestial observations, transits and an altitude instrument.
“According to legend, ‘Banneker fixed the position of the first stone by lying on his back to find the exact starting point for the survey ... and plotting six stars as they crossed his spot at a particular time of night.’ From there, Ellicott's team embarked on a forty-mile journey, surveying ten-mile lines first along the southwest line, then along the northwest line, next along the northeast line, and finally along the southeast line. The team completed this rough survey in April 1791.
On April 15, 1791, the Alexandria Masonic Lodge placed a small stone at the south corner at Jones Point in ceremonies attended by Ellicott, federal district commissioners Daniel Carroll and David Stuart, and other dignitaries. (In 1794, the ceremonial stone at Jones Point was replaced by a large stone, still in place today, with the inscription "The beginning of the Territory of Columbia" on one side.”)[1]
These stones display the first time the words “Jurisdiction of the United States” were used. A true piece of American history!
Boundary Stone expert Stephen Powers shares the history of D.C.'s Boundary Stones and takes a visit to a Boundary Stone.
Today, 36 of the original stones can be found exactly where they were installed more than two centuries ago. The missing stones are thought to have been displaced during the Civil War or during subsequent development. Today, continuing growth and damage by automobiles are the major threats to the remaining monuments.[2]
You’re invited to see them for yourself!
If you’re interested in seeing these stones today, here’s the location in google maps and in GeoJSON format. There’s also a walking tour of 10 of the monuments, and for the more ambitious, there’s a running route as well.
Here is a list (with photos) of all of the boundary stones and their locations, in case you want to have a look.
Berntsen is proud to have provided monuments to the federal government for more than 50 years. Our products are used in every part of the country – including commemorative monuments for Four Corners Monument, the Lewis & Clark Trail, the Center of Population and many more. We wish you a happy 4th of July and Parks and Recreation Month!
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.boundarystones.org/
[2] Washington, D.C.'s boundary stones are in danger of disappearing : NPR
Header image: E. Sachse & Co. (ca. 1852) View of Washington / drawn from nature and on stone by E. Sachse ; lith. and print in colors by E. Sachse & Comp. United States Washington D.C. District of Columbia Washington, ca. 1852. Baltimore, Md.: Published and sold by E. Sachse & Co. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/98515951/.