1767 Milestones

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.^[1] Massachusetts has a total of 129 surviving milestones including those along the upper Post Road.^[3] 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.^[4] Many of them underwent a major restoration in 2018.^[5]

1767 Milestones
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
The "Parting Ways" stone in Roxbury
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Location	Massachusetts between Springfield and Boston
Area	less than one acre
Built	various dates; many pursuant to a policy dating to 1767
NRHP reference No.	71000084, 85003300[1][2]
Added to NRHP	April 7, 1971

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.^[6] 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	Image	Location	Town	Notes
01	1741		Centre and Roxbury Streets 42°19′48″N 71°5′29″W	Boston, Roxbury	This stone is called the "Parting Ways Stone".
04	1729		841 Huntington Avenue 42°19′57″N 71°6′42″W	Boston, Mission Hill	Engraved "Boston 4 Miles 1729 PD".
05	1729		210 Harvard St. 42°20′24″N 71°7′17″W	Brookline	Engraved "Boston 5 Miles 1729 PD".
06	1729		142 Harvard Ave. 42.351947°N 71.131586°W / 42.351947; -71.131586 (Milestone 6)	Boston, Brighton	Engraved "Boston 6 Miles 1729 PD".
07	1729		240 N. Harvard St. 42.361556°N 71.129998°W / 42.361556; -71.129998 (Milestone 7)	Boston, Brighton	Engraved "Boston 7 Miles 1729 PD".
08	1734		Old Burial Ground (Mass. Ave. and Garden St.) 42°22′29″N 71°7′10″W	Cambridge	Engraved "Boston 8 Miles 1734 AI" on the front, and "Cambridge New Bridge +2⁄1 Miles 1794" on the back.
23			River Road and Water Row 42°22′14″N 71°23′12″W	Wayland
24			Route 20 and Landham Road 42°21′39″N 71°24′8″W	Sudbury
25			Route 20 and Concord Road 42°21′44″N 71°24′59″W	Sudbury
26			Route 20 and Nobscot Road 42°21′36″N 71°25′30″W	Sudbury
27			listed at Boston Post Road and Dudley Road 42.360003°N 71.436821°W / 42.360003; -71.436821 (Milestone 27)	Sudbury	Listed as missing in 2009 state survey.
28			Route 20 and Peakham Road 42°21′35″N 71°27′32″W	Sudbury
29			Wayside Inn Road and Dutton Road 42°21′28″N 71°28′19″W	Sudbury
33			143 E. Main St. 42°19′44″N 71°37′25″W	Northborough	Engraved "33 Miles to Boston".
35			Boston Post Road and Dean Park 42°17′45″N 71°41′43″W	Shrewsbury	Engraved "Boston 35 Springfield 65 Albany 165".
43	c.1760		West Main St. Near town common 42°17′35″N 71°44′58″W	Shrewsbury	Engraved "43 Mile to Boston".
47			Lincoln St. 42.278071°N 71.794392°W / 42.278071; -71.794392 (Milestone 47)	Worcester
48			Originally at 139 Salisbury St. 42.265051°N 71.804379°W / 42.265051; -71.804379 (Milestone 48)	Worcester	Moved to 30 Elm Street (Worcester Historical Museum) c. 2007 It was reported to be in storage there in January 2014.
53			Route 9 at Collier's Corner 42°14′24″N 71°53′10″W	Leicester
54			Originally at Main St. east of Paxton St. 42°14′43″N 71°54′30″W	Leicester	Stolen 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.
56			Between 1676 and 1710 Main St. (Route 9) 42°15′2″N 71°56′40″W	Leicester	Opposite Leicester Drive-In.
57			500 Main St. (Route 9) 42°15′21″N 71°57′21″W	Leicester	In front of the Spencer Country Inn.
58			325 Main St. (Route 9) 42°15′6″N 71°58′34″W	Spencer
59			Route 9, Spencer Shopper's Village 42°14′46″N 71°59′20″W	Spencer
60			Route 9 at Dewey St. 42°14′12″N 72°0′28″W	Spencer
61			133 West Main St. (Route 9) 42°13′52″N 72°1′40″W	Spencer
62			west of 324 East Main St. (Route 9) 42°13′38″N 72°2′40″W	East Brookfield	Stone has been reengraved with loss of integrity.
63			184 North Brookfield Rd. 42°13′42″N 72°4′1″W	East Brookfield
64			Elm Hill Rd., near North Brookfield line 42°13′49″N 72°4′45″W	Brookfield
65			Elm Hill Rd., east of North Brookfield Rd. 42°13′18″N 72°5′40″W	Brookfield
66			East of 31 West Main St. (Route 9) 42°12′57″N 72°6′29″W	Brookfield
67			102 Foster Hill Rd. 42°13′33″N 72°7′14″W	West Brookfield
68			East end of town common 42°14′10″N 72°8′15″W	West Brookfield
69			147 West Main St. (Route 9) 42°14′1″N 72°9′22″W	West Brookfield
70			Route 67 near Old Patrick Rd. 42°13′19″N 72°10′22″W	Warren
71			Burbank and Washington Sts. (behind/north side of 129 Washington St.) 42°12′46″N 72°10′59″W	Warren
72			Bemis and Washington Rds. 42°12′7″N 72°11′22″W	Warren	Now in front of Warren Congregational Church; relocated after 1970.
73			North side of Baypath Rd. 42°11′53″N 72°12′20″W	Warren
74			970 Read St., east of West Warren Rd. 42°11′9″N 72°13′18″W	Warren
99	1763		State St. at Federal St. (Springfield Armory) 42°6′25″N 72°34′46″W	Springfield	Known as the "Wait Guide Stone". Inscribed- Pulsantis Perietum Virtus est sua Merces This Stone is Erected by Joseph Wait, Esq. of Brookfield For the Benefit of Trav[el] Here. AD 1763 Replica placed in 2010.[7] Original in storage at the Armory Museum.
Source unless otherwise cited: NRHP nomination papers[4]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Boston, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Brookline, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampden County, Massachusetts

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. first refnum is for all milestones; second is for Brookline, Harvard Avenue stone
3. Gage, Mary E.; Gage, James E. (2014). Milestones & Guideposts of Massachusetts and Southeastern New Hampshire. Amesbury, MA: Powwow River Books. pp. 155–160. ISBN 978-0-9816141-7-5.
4. "NRHP Nomination for 1767 Milestones". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
5. "MassDOT Completes Milestone Marker Preservation Project". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. June 5, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
6. "Jamaica Plain Historical Society - 'Colonial Era' Editor - - Colonial Stones Mark Miles from Old Roxbury to Old State House". Archived from the original on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2011-07-08.
7. Rivais, Larry (13 April 2010). "Springfield honors its past with replica of historic Wait Boston Road Marker". The Republican. Springfield, MA. Retrieved 15 October 2017.