The Boston Stone is a stone in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. It is near the

Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument i ...

and is a minor tourist attraction. The stone, a flattened sphere about in diameter, hollowed out on one side, is embedded in the foundation of a building on Marshall Street (a narrow alley named for Thomas Marshall) in the

Blackstone Block Historic District The Blackstone Block Historic District encompasses what was once a waterfront business area in Boston, Massachusetts. Due to the infill of land it is now slightly inland from the waterfront. The district is bounded by Union, Hanover, Blacksto ...

. Below the stone is a

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

inscribed "Boston Stone 1737". It has been called "both an artifact of the early paint industry and evidence of early industrial activity in the vicinity..." It is considered the oldest paint-mill in the United States. There is no plaque, and the Boston Stone has no official status.

History

The Boston Stone was originally a

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

also called a "muller" used for grinding paint pigments in a long stone trough. It was imported from England around 1701 by the painter Tom Childs. cited in The stone was originally displayed with a painted plaque including Child’s initials and the date 1701. Child’s estate was purchased by John Howe who found the stone while building the present building around 1737 and removed it to the corner of his property to keep vehicles from damaging the building. The stone was placed in the brick wall above another stone carved to read "Boston Stone 1737" when the building was rebuilt by James Davis in 1835. According to Howe’s daughter, a Mrs. Green, their neighbor who had seen the famous

London Stone London Stone is a historic landmark housed at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London. It is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm (21 × 17 × 12"), the remnant of a once much larger object that had st ...

proposed that the paint mill be made into a similar landmark by adding the inscription. The new building popularized the old artifact; in 1839, the

Boston Courier The ''Boston Courier'' was an American newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded on March 2, 1824, by Joseph T. Buckingham as a daily newspaper which supported protectionism. Buckingham served as editor until he sold out complete ...

reported that a replica of the stone made entirely of sugar was exhibited at a fair at

Quincy Market Quincy Market is a historic building next to Faneuil Hall in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was constructed between 1824 and 1826 and named in honor of mayor Josiah Quincy III, Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction wi ...

. In 1879 it was mentioned by poet

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

in his poem "Landmarks" lamenting the loss of some of Boston's early landmarks, stating "When from Neck to Boston Stone, All thy pride of place is gone." According to popular legend, the stone is the geographic center of Boston, used in colonial times by surveyors as the zero point for outlying milestones showing the distance to Boston, but this is almost certainly not true. There are no contemporary records indicating this. Nineteenth century advertising for the Marshall House inn describes the original inscribing of the Boston Stone's plinth; it is possible that its attribution as Boston's zero milestone was an early 19th-century advertising ploy. The 1921 Rand, McNally guide to the city suggested that it was probably set up to provide directions to nearby shops in imitation of the London Stone.

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline, Boston Stone Landmarks in Boston Stones Government Center, Boston

History

See also

References

External links