The stone had an inscription on it: “The beginning of the Territory of Columbia.”Įllicott and crew then headed northwest toward Falls Church, Virginia, laying stones as they went. Legend has it that “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,” according to Powers’ site. At the time, it was a ceremonial gesture - the stone was replaced by a more proper monument in 1794. The first stone was laid April 15, 1791, in what are now the grounds for the Jones Point lighthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. For the next year and a half, loggers chopped down trees for 20 feet on both sides of the boundary line - for 100 miles. It took them 34 days to make the loop around the District, chopping down trees as they went. They hired astronomer Benjamin Banneker, a free African-American, to make observations and calculations. “Ellicott had all the survey instruments and was a kind of renowned colonial surveyor who, by the time his career was over, laid out state boundaries 11 different states,” Powers said.Īndrew and his brother Joseph Ellicott started the survey in February, 1791. In order to establish the new city, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson hired a surveyor by the name of Andrew Ellicott - whose father, Joseph Ellicott, founded Ellicott City, Maryland. So Congress blocked Washington from profiting directly from the placement of the Federal City. He has a book coming out in December about the stones. “Congress was very leery of George Washington because he owned a lot of land in Virginia - a tremendous amount of land,” said Stephen Powers, co-chair of the Nation’s Capital Boundary Stones Committee. Chief among them was the fork in the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, two established local ports with Alexandria and Georgetown - besides, he already owned the land.īut Congress didn’t entirely trust Washington. George Washington chose the geographic location he did for many reasons. The city was to be a “10 Miles Square” of land that Virginia and Maryland were going to donate - 100 square miles altogether. Constitution, ratified in 1789, changed all that, giving President Washington the power to create the capital along the Potomac River. For a full-screen version, click here.Īfter the Revolutionary War, the new United States fought over where to put the nation’s capital.įrom 1785 to 1789, it operated out of New York City’s Federal Hall. View the location of each boundary stone in our interactive map above. To make matters worse, in true bureaucratic fashion, not a single government entity involved with the stones seems to know exactly what’s going on. And, like everything in D.C., it’s a precarious, convoluted mess of politics, money and geography. Like everything in America, there’s a story to the stones. The NE3 stone resides at the edge of a McDonald’s parking lot, surrounded by broken beer bottles and trash. Others have had worse fates - being demolished by a bulldozer (NE1) or smashed by cars (SW6). It is partially underground, near the shore of the Potomac River, protected by a brass-lined window. Some stones, such as the one at Jones Point, Virginia, have an Indiana Jones air of mystery about them. Those few are the heroes of this story, toiling in relative obscurity to preserve the greatest artifacts America has - the story of us. And fewer still have taken up the mantle of preserving them. The first mewling scream of Washington, D.C., as the newborn capital of what would become the most powerful country on the planet.Īmazingly, nearly all 40 of those stones still exist today, but few know about them. The physical boundary was the beginning of Federal City. The 40 stone markers were set in place by President George Washington to designate the border of the nation’s capital. The 10-by-10-mile square includes a stone marker every mile. Never has that been more true than when it comes to America’s first federal monuments - D.C.’s Boundary Stones. WASHINGTON - In D.C., you can stumble over history and not even know it. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |