Rare and Historic Marker
It was 1956, and the City of Leominster, Massachusetts was working on a project to realign a road. In the process the city took some land from a property we are surveying. This stone marker was the surprising result. The letters carved into the top were also a puzzle.
A thorough survey in the neighborhood recovered several monuments that were written into the public record on plans and deeds. Some dated back to 1856 when the roads were first surveyed and laid out. I am happy to say that our survey recovered one of these 1856 stones in excellent condition.
With all of the monuments recovered and their positions measured I set about calculating and determining the boundary of the land. I came up with four corners to set out and went back with this task in mind. The corner markers we set are long steel bars. We place a cap at the top of each bar that identifies me as the surveyor.
While setting one of the corners the bar hit something very hard. After digging about a foot down from the surface the stone marker started to appear. The photograph was taken after the excavation and sweeping the soil away in order to see and measure the whole of the object.
The stone bound, as it is called measures 0.55 feet (a little more than six and one-half inches) square, has a drilled hole in the center and is carved with the letters L H. My guess was the letters stood for Leominster Highway and I got confirmation from the City Engineer.
