Today, 36 of the original marker stones survive as the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States. Thirteen of these markers are now within Virginia due to the return of the portion of the District south and west of the Potomac River to Virginia in 1846 (see: District of Columbia retrocession).
The District of Columbia (initially, the Territory of Columbia) was originally specified to be a square 100 square miles (260 km2) in area, with the axes between the corners of the square running north-south and east-west, The square had its southern corner at the southern tip of Jones PointinAlexandria, Virginia, at the confluence of the Potomac River and Hunting Creek (later the site of the Jones Point Lighthouse).[2] The sides of the square were each 10 miles (16 km) long. The specified orientation results in a diamond shape for the District's original boundaries on most maps.
The north-south axis of the District's current boundaries extends southward from the District's north corner near East-West Highway (Maryland Route 410), travels between 17th and 18th Streets, N.W., and continues south across the National Mall to the far shore of the Potomac River; the east-west axis is between the present Constitution Avenue and C Street, N.E. and N.W.[3]
In 2011, the District of Columbia geographic information system (GIS) program completed a project to map the District's boundary using Global Positioning System (GPS) and contemporary survey technology at an accuracy of +/- 5 centimetres (2.0 in) horizontally and +/- 9 centimetres (3.5 in) vertically. The GIS program's survey found that (listed in the order in which Andrew Ellicott's team performed the initial boundary survey):
Along the northwest boundary, the stones are outside the existing boundary ranging from 4.43 feet (1.35 m) to 9.6 feet (2.93 m)
Along the northeast boundary, the stones are inside the existing boundary ranging from 6.6 feet (2.01 m) to 8.4 feet (2.56 m)
Along the southeast boundary, the stones are outside the existing boundary ranging from 12.75 feet (3.89 m) to 18.48 feet (5.63 m)
The overall accuracy of the historic survey and the survey using 2011 technology produced remarkably similar results. For example, the distance between Southeast stones numbers 6 and 7 is 5,280.824 feet (1,609.5952 m), almost exactly one mile (5,280 feet (1,609.3440 m)).[5]
The stones are located alongside streets, in public parks, deep in the woods and on personal property. Homeowners with stones on their property are generally willing to let the curious take a closer look if they are respectful.[6]
South corner stone within seawall south of the Jones Point Lighthouse in Alexandria, Virginia (2010)
On March 30, 1791, President George Washington issued a proclamation that established ″Jones's point, the upper cape of Hunting Creek in Virginia″ as the starting point for the federal territory's boundary survey.[7] Acting in accordance with instructions in the proclamation, the survey team then began its work at the square's south corner on the shoreline of the point, which was at the southeast corner of Alexandria, Virginia.[2][8][9] On April 15, 1791, officials dedicated the south corner stone in an elaborate Masonic ceremony at a point that Andrew Ellicott had determined.[2][10][11]
The survey team then cleared a corridor along the boundary route to facilitate surveying, traveling clockwise from the point and placing sandstoneboundary markers at the four corners and at intervals of approximately one mile.[2][8] The markers were quarried near Aquia Creek in Virginia.[2] Most weighed about a half-ton at their emplacement; the four cornerstones were slightly larger. The Virginia stones were set in 1791, and the Maryland ones in 1792.[2] The map on the web page "Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia" identifies the location of each of the four corner stones, and those of the still-in-place intermediate stones.[12]
The side of a boundary marker that faced the federal territory was inscribed "Jurisdiction of the United States" and with the distance in miles and poles from the previous corner stone. The opposite side was marked with the name of the border state: VirginiaorMaryland. The remaining sides were marked with the year that the team placed the stones and with the variation ("Var.") of the compass needle at that place.[2][13][14]
On January 1, 1793, Andrew Ellicott submitted to the commissioners a report that stated that the boundary survey had been completed and that all of the boundary marker stones had been set in place. Ellicott's report described the marker stones and contained a map that showed the boundaries and topographical features of the Territory of Columbia. The map identified the locations within the Territory of the planned City of Washington and its major streets, as well as the location of each boundary marker stone.[2][15]
The following images show the sides of the Southeast No. 6 boundary marker stone on August 17, 2011:
In 1906, Fred E. Woodward read a paper to the Columbia Historical Society that described the history, location and conditions of each of the remaining boundary stones, together with photographs of each. His paper concluded by recommending that the stones be protected by placing small fences around each one.[16]
In 1909, Ernest A. Shuster of the United States Geological Survey wrote an article for the National Geographic Magazine that described his visits to the 36 remaining boundary stones and that urged their protection and preservation.[17]
One Virginia boundary marker was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and another in 1980. In 1991, the remaining Virginia boundary markers were added to the National Register in response to a Multiple Property Submission that the Virginia DAR had submitted.[18] In 1996, 23 marker stones along the boundary between the District of Columbia and Maryland were added to the National Register in response to registration forms that the District of Columbia government had submitted for each of the stones. Each of the District's registration forms referenced the documentation in the Multiple Property Submission for the Virginia markers.[19][20]
South Corner.[23] This boundary marker in Virginia was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, together with Alexandria's Jones Point Lighthouse. In 1794, the marker replaced the marker that officials had dedicated during the 1791 Masonic ceremony.[24]
Southwest 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8; West Corner; Northwest 1, 2, and 3. These boundary markers in Virginia were added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 1, 1991 in response to the Multiple Property Submission cited above.[18]
Northwest 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9; North Corner; Northeast 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9; East Corner; Southeast 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9. These boundary markers, located along the border between the District of Columbia and Maryland, were added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1996.[19][25]
In 1976, the National Capital Planning Commission published a report that described the history and condition of each boundary stone.[2] The report recommended that measures be taken to assure the stones' preservation.[2] In 1990 and 1991, a resurveying team to celebrate the boundary markers' bicentennial located two of the then-missing stones.[12]
In 1995, the Northern Virginia Boundary Stones Committee, whose establishment the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) had requested, issued a list of recommendations intended to document and preserve the 14 boundary stones that were located in Virginia. The Committee included representatives of the State of Maryland and of Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria and Falls ChurchinVirginia.[26]
In 2008, the NVRC announced that four Virginia local governments, including Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, had agreed to help fund a project to protect and preserve the boundary stones by providing matching funds to a Transportation Enhancement Grant that the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) had received from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). The announcement stated that the NVRC was working on an agreement with the DDOT, the National Park Service and the FHA to administer the project.[27]
However, the preservation project had not yet begun by 2012. It appeared that the DDOT no longer had the funds that had been allocated for the project.[28] In the meantime, teams of volunteers had begun to landscape and repaint the fences surrounding the stones.[29] In addition, the District of Columbia DAR restored the Northeast No. 7 boundary marker and its fence in 2012.
In 2014, the National Park Service, the historic preservation staff of the District of Columbia Office of Planning, the DDOT and the DAR initiated an effort to rehabilitate the boundary markers that were located along the District's contemporary boundaries.[30] As part of the project, in January 2015 a DDOT crew unearthed a stone buried in 1962 that had replaced Southeast No. 8, with the intention of cleaning and restoring the marker.[31] However, in 2016, the stone was replaced by a new stone that presumably replicated the appearance of the original stone when the original was new.[32]
The 36 extant and four missing boundary stones are tabulated in sequence below, beginning at the southern corner and proceeding clockwise, in the same order as the stones were placed.[12] The tables also contain the year that each stone was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Southwest No. 7 Boundary Marker of the Original District of Columbia[40]
2012
Behind 3101 South Manchester Street, Arlington, Virginia, in fence southwest of Carlin Springs Elementary School (5995 5th Road South, Arlington, Virginia) parking lot
Southwest No. 8 Boundary Marker of the Original District of Columbia[41]
2012
South of intersection of Wilson Boulevard and John Marshall Drive, near parking lot behind apartment building and 100 feet (30.5 m) south of water tower
Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, Virginia
Northwest No. 4 Boundary Marker of the Original District of Columbia[48]
2006
Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant grounds, 100+ feet east of the Capital Crescent Trail and several hundred feet north of the intersection of Norton Street and Potomac Avenue
In 2005, the Arlington County, Virginia, government erected historical markers near the Southwest Nos. 6 and 8 boundary marker stones of the original District of Columbia.
Four of the forty original boundary markers were not in or near their original locations in late 2016. Three of these had been replaced with substitute markers.[12]
Name
Image
Description
Southwest No. 2
2013
The original Southwest No. 2 marker disappeared before 1900. A marker stone now within a DAR fence near the street curb at 7 Russell Road north of King Street in Alexandria is a replacement about 0.35 miles (0.6 km) southeast of the original location. DAR records show that the replacement marker was placed at its current location in 1920. The replacement marker lacks an inscription and does not resemble an original boundary marker.[35]
Northeast No. 1
June 13, 1916
A photograph taken on June 13, 1916, shows a ceremony that members of the DAR conducted when they unveiled a fence around Northeast No. 1, which was then in a field.[2] The stone was accidentally bulldozed and removed in September 1952 during the construction of a storefront at 7847 Eastern Avenue, northwest of the avenue's intersection with Georgia Avenue. A bronze plaque in the sidewalk in front of a shop at the site marks the stone's former location.[76]
Southeast No. 4
Southeast No. 4, described as an "indistinguishable nub", was located in 1976 along Southern Avenue a few feet southeast of the avenue's intersection with Naylor Road.[2] When a truck knocked the stone out of place in 1985, the manager of a nearby apartment building moved it into the building's boiler room for safekeeping.[77] In 1991, the building manager gave the stone to the bicentennial resurveying team.[77] A team member then stored the stone in his garage.[78]
In 2012, the stone was transferred to the D.C. Office of the Surveyor, which intended to reset the stone near its original location.[77] However, in 2016, a replica of the stone resembling the presumed appearance of the original stone when new was placed near the original stone's site.[79] The original stone was placed on display in the Office of the Surveyor.[69]
Southeast No. 8
The original Southeast No. 8 stone was removed in 1958 during construction and then either lost or stolen from a storage facility before it could be reset in the ground.[32] In 1962, the DAR placed a new inscription-less stone in the same location along with the original stone's iron fence. However, further construction subsequently buried the replacement stone.[32]
The replacement stone was later discovered nearly eight feet below ground level in the southeast corner of the Blue Plains Impoundment Lot, on the Maryland side of the impoundment lot's fence.[32]Aconcretepipe embedded in a mound of gravel was put in place to mark the replacement stone's site.
In 1972, the stone had been uncovered, and an excavation and relocation was planned, but never happened and the stone was again covered by landfill until 1991. A bicentennial resurveying team then dug it out of the ground, using old photographs to locate it. The stone was replaced underground for protection and covered by a taller pipe that was visible above the surface.[80]
In 2015, DDOT workers excavated and removed the stone after debris in the pipe had covered the stone.[31][32] The stone was replaced in early 2016 with a replica that presumably had the same appearance as the original had when new. This replica was installed at ground level at the stone's original site.[32]
One of the Garden Club of America Entrance Markers in Friendship Heights (2005)
A group of entrance markers, erected later along major roads that travel into the District of Columbia, are located on or near the boundary of D.C. and Maryland. Three pairs of marker stones and another single stone are known collectively as the Garden Club of America Entrance Markers.[81][82] They are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[82]
One pair of markers is located within Westmoreland Circle at the junction of Western Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue NW.[81][83] These markers are between the Northwest No. 5 and Northwest No. 6 boundary markers of the original District of Columbia.
Another pair of markers is located within Chevy Chase Circle, at the junction of Western Avenue and Connecticut Avenue.[86][87] These markers are between the Northwest No. 7 and Northwest No. 8 boundary markers of the original District of Columbia.
A single marker is located within a traffic island at the intersection of Georgia Avenue, Alaska Avenue and Kalmia Road NW. The marker is located inside the triangular island's southeast corner, near the intersection of Georgia Avenue to the east and Kalmia Road to the south.[88]
The marker was formerly located inside a median in the center of Georgia Avenue, just north of the Avenue's intersection with Kalmia Road and Alaska Avenue.[89] This marker is between the former site of the Northeast No. 1 and the present site of the Northeast No. 2 boundary markers of the original District of Columbia.
D.C. entrance marker in traffic circle near downtown Silver Spring (2011)
Another D.C. entrance marker stands in a traffic circle (Blair Circle) near downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, at the junction of Eastern Avenue NW, 16th Street NW, N. Portal Drive NW and Colesville Road.[90] The marker is between the North Corner boundary marker and the former site of the Northeast No. 1 boundary marker of the original District of Columbia.
^The north-south axis is a straight line connecting the north and south cornerstones of the original District of Columbia. The east-west axis is a straight line connecting the east and west cornerstones of the original District of Columbia.
^Washington, George (1792). John C. Fitzpatrick (ed.). Proclamation: Georgetown, March 30, 1791. Vol. 31: January 22, 1790—March 9, 1792. Washington: United States Government Printing Office (August, 1939). Retrieved October 7, 2016. Now therefore for the purposes of amending and completing the location of the whole of the said territory of the ten miles square in conformity with the said amendatory act of Congress, I do hereby declare and make known that the whole of said territory shall be located and included within the four lines following, that is to say: Beginning at Jones's point, the upper cape of Hunting Creek in Virginia, and at an angle in the outset of 45 degrees west of the north: ...{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help).
^"The 1790s: Place in Time". Discovering the Decades: Alexandria Archaeology Looks Back at 250 Years of Alexandria History. Government of the City of Alexandria, Virginia. Archived from the original on August 29, 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
^ abc"District of Columbia". Nineteenth Report of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution: October 11, 1915 to October 11, 1916, 64th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate, Document No. 710. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office: 104–107. 1917. OCLC1062842688. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
^"New Federal City"(PDF). Columbian Centennial. No. 744. Boston, Massachusetts: Benjamin Russell. May 7, 1791. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 30, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
^Diagram showing scheme of lettering on intermediate and corner stones (Plate VII following p. 64) in Woodward, Fred E. (1907). "A Ramble Along the Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia with a Camera". Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 10. Washington, D.C.: Columbia Historical Society. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
^Schuster, Ernest A., U.S. Geological Survey (1909). Gilbert H. Grosvenor (ed.). "The Original Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia". National Geographic Magazine. 20. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society: 356–359. Retrieved October 8, 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ ab(1) "Virginia"(PDF). Weekly List of Listed Properties: 1/28/91 through 2/01/91: United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 8, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2016.. (2) "Southwest No. 1, Southwest No. 2, Southwest No. 3, Southwest No. 4 and Southwest No. 5 Boundary Markers of the Original District of Columbia". VIRGINIA - Alexandria County. National Register of Historic Places.com. Archived from the original on July 2, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2013.. (3) "Southwest No. 5, Southwest No. 6 and Southwest No. 7 Boundary Markers of the Original District of Columbia and West Cornerstone". VIRGINIA - Arlington County. National Register of Historic Places.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2013.. (4) "West Cornerstone". VIRGINIA - Falls Church County. National Register of Historic Places.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2013.. (5) Hynak, Barbara A. (Chairman, District V Boundary Markers Committee, Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution) (July 9, 1990). "Boundary Markers of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places — Multiple Property Documentation Form and National Register of Historic Places — Registration Forms for Southwest #1, Southwest #2, Southwest #3, Southwest #4, Southwest #5, Southwest #6, Southwest #7, Southwest #8, West Cornerstone, Northwest #1, Northwest #2 and Northwest #3 Boundary Markers of the Original District of Columbia. Arlington County, Virginia: Arlington County, Virginia, Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
^(1) Barsoum, Lydia (August 1996). "Northwest #4, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government. historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms. (2) Barsoum, Lydia (August 1996). "Northwest #9, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government. historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms. (3) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "North Corner, Boundary Marker of the original District of ColumbiaBoundary Markers of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (4) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Northeast #2, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (5) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Northeast #3, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (6) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Northeast #5, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (7) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Northeast #6. Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (8) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Northeast #7, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (9) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Northeast #8, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (10) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Northeast #9, Boundary Marker of the original District of ColumbiaBoundary Markers of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (11) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Southeast #5, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (12) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Southeast #6, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (13) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Southeast #7, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (14) Barsoum, Lydia, Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government (August 1996). "Southeast #9, Boundary Marker of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"SW9". Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia. boundary stones.org. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
^Barsoum, Lydia (August 1996). "Boundary Markers of the original District of Columbia"(PDF). Architectural Historian: Historic Preservation Division, District of Columbia government. historicwashington.org. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms. NW 4
^(1) Hallett, Vicky (August 29, 2014). "D.C.'s historic boundary stones are being preserved". The Washington Post. No. Express. Archived from the original on August 11, 2015. Retrieved November 19, 2018. (2) Harris, Hamil R. (May 15, 2015). "200-year-old boundary markers in D.C. rededicated". The Washington Post. No. Local. Retrieved April 1, 2016. (3) Harris, Hamil R. (May 30, 2015). "Stones laid by Benjamin Banneker in the 1790s are still standing". The Washington Post. No. Local. Archived from the original on October 8, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2016. Note: A June 1, 2015, comment by RossEmery following this article disputed information in the article's title. The comment stated: "Stones laid by Benjamin Banneker in the 1790s are still standing" Actually:Ellicott, a prominent professional surveyor, hired Benjamin Banneker, an astronomer and mathematician from Maryland, to make the astronomical observations and calculations necessary to establish the south corner of the square at Jones Point in Alexandria. 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 (minus Banneker, who worked only on the south corner) embarked on a forty mile journey, surveying ten-mile lines first to the northwest, then the northeast, next southeast, and finally southwest back toward the starting point, clearing twenty feet of land on each side of the boundary. The comment cited http://www.boundarystones.org as the source of its information.
^"2006 description of original SE4". Boundary Stones of the District of Columbial. boundary stones.org. Archived from the original on August 30, 2006. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
^ ab(1) "Garden Club Entrance Markers"(PDF). Inventory G of Historic Sites and Districts. District of Columbia Office of Planning. Archived from the original(PDF) on July 29, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020.. (2) "Garden Club Entrance Markers"(PDF). District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites: Alphabetic Version. District of Columbia Office of Planning. September 30, 2009. p. 62. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 1, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020..
Geography
National Register of Historic Places
Virginia
