1767 Milestones

Forty milestones set in 1767 survive along the Old Post Road between Boston and Springfield, out of an original ninety-nine. They mark mile intervals and are round-headed or rectangular monoliths, granite in the east and gray or brown sandstone in Worcester and Hampden Counties. Most carry a short inscription giving the number of miles from Boston. The best known is the Roxbury Parting Stone, erected by Paul Dudley and dated 1744, which gives directions to Dedham, Rhode Island, Cambridge and Watertown. The stones came about after Britain directed its colonies to survey their post roads; in 1767 the Massachusetts Council advised that stones be fixed at the mile marks of Captain Miller's survey, sometimes reusing stones set earlier by Dudley. The Works Progress Administration described them in 1940, and an Act of 1960 directed the Department of Public Works to preserve them. Most stones are in good condition, though some have been moved, broken or worn.