Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Replacement milestones

I was going to post about how to identify old alignments today, but I've been having trouble with the maps I've embedded from Google Maps actually working, so instead, I'll deal with the issue of replacement milestones.

Milestones 1-40 are solid, heavy affairs, not the sort of thing that is easily damaged or moved - thus, these stones have mostly remained in their original locations, undamaged - even if through weathering they have become unreadable. West of milestone 40, however, the stones are smaller, cut of softer sandstone, which lead to easier carving, but also lead to being damaged more easily. The stones were placed along the edge of the road, which, in the automobile age, has lead to many suffering damage in automobile accidents.

52 M to B
52 M to B is the most easternly replacement stone.

56 M to B
56 M to B is identical in style to milestone 52.

Imposter / replacement 58 M to B
58 is a bit less stout than the two preceding it.

75 M to B
I just don't know what to say about milestone 75. Someday I'll talk to the inhabitants of the house and ask them if they know anything.

82 M to B
The text on 82 M to B appears to have been sandblasted.

Milestone 96 M to B
This rather nice replacement is in Hancock, Maryland.

97 M to B
97, along with its twin, 96, appear to be relatively recent replacements.

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