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

[dmaze]

Yes, that's me, and yes, that's the map. I did this quite a while ago (the photos you found were from 2008, but I thought I did this more like 2002ish) but at that point I thought I had found at least #15 and #16. I definitely remember looking for #20 behind the U-Haul but don't remember finding it. I also haven't found Cambridge marker #1, though I've looked around the Gore St./Medford St./Grand Junction grade crossing a bit.

[ron_newman]

I looked today for #15, #16, and #18, but did not find them. I did find #19 on Gordon Street, and what I think is a sad little remnant of #17 on North Street opposite Fairfax. I've added both of these to the Google map.