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. Massachusetts has a total of 129 surviving milestones including those along the upper Post Road. 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. Many underwent major restorations in 2018.

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. 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.

List Milesto Boston YearPlaced Image Location Town Notes 01 1741 Centre and Roxbury Streets Boston, Roxbury This stone is called the "Parting Ways Stone". 04 1729 841 Huntington Avenue Boston, Mission Hill Engraved "Boston 4 Miles 1729 PD". 05 1729 210 Harvard St. Brookline Engraved "Boston 5 Miles 1729 PD". 06 1729 142 Harvard Ave. Boston, Brighton Engraved "Boston 6 Miles 1729 PD". 07 1729 240 N. Harvard St. Boston, Brighton Engraved "Boston 7 Miles 1729 PD". 08 1734 Old Burial Ground(Mass. Ave. and Garden St.) Cambridge Engraved "Boston 8 Miles 1734 AI" on the front, and "Cambridge New Bridge Miles 1794" on the back. 23 River Road and Water Row Wayland 24 Route 20 and Landham Road Sudbury 25 Route 20 and Concord Road Sudbury 26 Route 20 and Nobscot Road Sudbury 27 listed at Boston Post Road and Dudley Road Sudbury Listed as missing in 2009 state survey. 28 Route 20 and Peakham Road Sudbury 29 Wayside Inn Road and Dutton Road Sudbury 33 143 E. Main St. Northborough Engraved "33 Miles to Boston". 35 Boston Post Road and Dean Park Shrewsbury Engraved "Boston 35 Springfield 65 Albany 165". 43 c.1760 West Main St. Near town common Shrewsbury Engraved "43 Mile to Boston". 47 Lincoln St. Worcester 48 Originally at 139 Salisbury St. 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 Leicester 54 Originally at Main St. east of Paxton St. 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) Leicester Opposite Leicester Drive-In. 57 500 Main St. (Route 9) Leicester In front of the Spencer Country Inn. 58 325 Main St. (Route 9) Spencer 59 Route 9, Spencer Shopper's Village Spencer 60 Route 9 at Dewey St. Spencer 61 133 West Main St. (Route 9) Spencer 62 west of 324 East Main St. (Route 9) East Brookfield Stone has been reengraved with loss of integrity. 63 184 North Brookfield Rd. East Brookfield 64 Elm Hill Rd., near North Brookfield line Brookfield 65 Elm Hill Rd., east of North Brookfield Rd. Brookfield 66 East of 31 West Main St. (Route 9) Brookfield 67 102 Foster Hill Rd. West Brookfield 68 East end of town common West Brookfield 69 147 West Main St. (Route 9) West Brookfield 70 Route 67 near Old Patrick Rd. Warren 71 Burbank and Washington Sts.(behind/north side of 129 Washington St.) Warren 72 Bemis and Washington Rds. Warren Now in front of Warren Congregational Church; relocated after 1970. 73 North side of Baypath Rd. Warren 74 970 Read St., east of West Warren Rd. Warren 99 1763 State St. at Federal St. (Springfield Armory) Springfield Known as the "Wait Guide Stone". Inscribed-Replica placed in 2010. Original in storage at the Armory Museum. Source unless otherwise cited: NRHP nomination papers

1767 Milestones

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