Old stone Somerville boundary posts

[ron_newman]

A century or more ago, Somerville and Medford installed stone pillars at various locations to mark the boundary between the two cities. While planning the Somerville Bicycle Committee's upcoming Edge of the City Tour on October 13, I looked around for these markers -- both on the Web and on foot around the Tufts University campus.

So far, I've found seven of them, which I've plotted on a Google map. The map includes links to a photo of each marker -- one by Georgy Cohen (georgy), two by David Maze (dzm), one by Elizabeth Bolton, and three by me. Typically, the markers have S etched on one side, M on another side, and the marker number on a third side (or sometimes the same side as S or M). ETA 10/5/12: Thanks to your comments here, the map now has 10 markers, with more coming soon.

If you've seen one that isn't on my map, please comment here so that I can add it! I'd especially like to know if any markers remain for the Somerville-Cambridge or Somerville-Boston (Charlestown) borders.

Here's my photo of one on the west side of Packard Avenue, next to the Tufts tennis courts. (Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

Comments

[ron_newman]

The Tufts University alumni association in 1959 commissioned a history of Tufts called High on the Hill: Tufts Then and Now, by Linda J. Dixon. This book has been updated a few times, most recently in 1979.

The page about the library says: "You will remember we mentioned that the Medford-Somerville line bisects the campus; there are two granite markers here to show where it angles across this library!".

I don't know if that means the markers were inside the library, or just outside it. Back then it was called Wessell Library. Since then, it has been expanded into the current Tisch Library. I wonder if the markers were lost during that construction.