Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia
Andrew Ellicott and his surveying team placed 40 boundary stones around the perimeter of the District of Columbia, one at each mile of the original diamond shape. The stones were sawed from Virginia sand-stone of the Aquia Creek Quarries below Alexandria. They laid the first stone, the south corner stone, at Jones Point on April 15th (you will find the year on the plaque), under the guidance of Benjamin Banneker. 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 40-mile journey that took nearly two years. They created the boundary lines of the capital by clearing 20 feet of land on each side of the boundary and setting a uniquely marked stone at each mile interval. On each stone, the side facing the District of Columbia displayed the inscription "Jurisdiction of the United States" and a mile number. The opposite side said either "Virginia" or "Maryland," as appropriate. The third and fourth sides displayed the year in which the stone was placed (14 Virginia stones and 26 Maryland stones) and the magnetic compass variance at that place. The stones along the northwest Maryland boundary line also displayed the number of miles they fell from NW4, the first stone placed in Maryland. Stones placed at intervals of more than a mile included that extra distance measured in poles.
The next to survey the stones was Marcus Baker, who visited each stone's location during the summer of 1894. After Baker, Fred E. Woodward photographed 39 of the boundary stones--all but SW2, which had been lost even before Baker's survey--starting in 1906. In his reports to the Columbia Historical Society Woodward described the extent to which the stones had deteriorated and proposed that they be protected for the enjoyment of future generations. In 1915, the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, citing Woodward's work, voluntarily assumed the responsibility of protecting the stones by erecting an iron cage around each one.
For decades afterward, D.A.R. members visited the stones periodically to perform routine maintenance. Despite D.A.R.'s care and attention, many of the stones fell on hard times during the mid-1900s. Several were repositioned, removed, lost, or buried during construction projects. Thankfully, a resurveying team led by David Doyle to celebrate the District's bicentennial in 1990-1991 managed to locate two of the then-missing stones, SE4 and SE8 (which had already been lost once before and replaced with a replica). The boundary stones are the oldest federal monuments. Although several have been moved or replaced, there are 38 boundary stones in or near the original locations selected by Andrew Ellicott, including all 14 in the land that was returned to Virginia in July 1846. A 39th is in storage and the 40th is marked by a plaque. SW5 North side of Walter Reed Parkway 100+ feet east of intersection with King Street. Only the stump of this stone remains. Its current condition is consistent with Woodward's 1908 report that the "stone is broken, and the top seems to be lost. The entire base, with a few inches of the finished portion, was found lying on the ground in approximately the same spot where it had originally been placed." This stone is now nearly 45 feet from its original position.
Additional Reading
Woodward, Fred E.: "Boundary Mile Stones" (1916) in Records and History of the Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia (no date) [unpublished manuscript in the Kiplinger Research Library of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.].
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