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The mystery of Newstead Montegrade

By adamg on Tue, 04/05/2005 - 10:41pm

Every time eeka does a MapQuest search that involves Roxbury, a place called Newstead Montegrade shows up.

Now according to the map, it's just a spot in Franklin Park, but you can find it by searching for the "city" of Newstead Montegrade, MA. Do a Google search and you find plenty of other sites that also seem to think Newstead Montegrade is one of Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns (or should that be 352?). In a word, WTF?

This site offers Newstead Montegrade weather and invites users to upload Newstead Montegrade photos. This site notes that Newstead Montegrade is one of the nearest cities to Roxbury Crossing. And this site offers "Newstead Montegrade Adult Chat."

For $9.95, you can buy a topographical map that includes Newstead Montegrade (map is non-returnable, so make sure you really want it).

The youth of Newstead Montegrade are Taking IT Global (whatever IT is).

Field trip, anyone?

Neighborhoods: 
Roxbury
Free tagging: 
Newstead Montegrade
Franklin Park


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Comments

By Ron Newman on Wed, 04/06/2005 - 7:58am.

The site that sells USGS topo maps includes this warning:

The "Possible Features on the Map" list is provided as an indication of the area covered. The features shown on this list are located within the area shown on this map, but we cannot guarantee that they will be labeled on the map itself. The features come from a separate USGS database, and we have not compared them with the actual map. We list these features only as supplemental information that might help you locate the best map.
...
When the features list mentions a school, cemetery, mine, city park, cave or other small feature, a symbol is probably shown on the map but not necessarily the name. Rivers, creeks and other water features are always shown and are usually labeled (but not always).

I don't have a printed copy of the very latest USGS map, but I do have a Rubel's Boston Bikemap which is based on USGS. It does not show Newstead Montegrade.

Topozone.com has heard of Newstead Montegrade, with latitude 42.311ºN, 71.096ºW, elevation 150 feet.
But the resulting map doesn't show it marked, not even if you zoom in. It does not appear to be a hilltop.

If we do take a field trip looking for this, I recommend bringing along a GPS.

By Ron Newman on Wed, 04/06/2005 - 8:54am.

The USGS Geographic Names Information Service says that it is a geographic feature whose type is "populated place". Which is pretty funny, given that it is in the middle of a forested area in Franklin Park.

Its FIPS55 Place Code is 45530, if that means anything to you (it doesn't to me).

I'm sending an e-mail to [email protected] asking if s/he knows anything more about how this got into their database.

By Ron Newman on Wed, 04/06/2005 - 1:15pm.

From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: What is Newstead Montegrade?
To: Ron Newman
Sender: Roger L Payne <[email protected]>

We have had inquires regarding this name before now. It is included because it was an historical name used to refer to this neighborhood, and is still known historically.

Manager GNIS
703.648.4544

By eeka on Wed, 04/06/2005 - 1:54pm.

But why's it in Franklin Park?

By Ron Newman on Wed, 04/06/2005 - 1:56pm.

Well, Franklin Park wasn't always a park. It probably used to be someone's farm. More than that, I don't know offhand.

By Universal Hub (trackback) on Thu, 04/07/2005 - 8:20am.

The must-see destination of the year!
Earlier: The mystery of Newstead Montegrade.

By eeka on Thu, 04/07/2005 - 9:43am.

I've not yet gotten a reply from the guy who owns newsteadmontegrade.com. I wonder if my voicemail weirded him out.

I think I'm going to go get an account on Newstead Montegrade Adult Chat this weekend though. I mean, how much more fun can you get, having X-rated chat about Massachusetts' big little city?

By eeka on Thu, 04/07/2005 - 9:43am.

When I posted the previous comment, THIS popped up:

http://spe.atdmt.com/ds/TBTLAASKJASK/&q=

By Ron Newman on Thu, 04/07/2005 - 9:46am.

I'm not getting anything like that, even when I turn off Safari's default popup blocking.

By Universal Hub (trackback) on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 1:12pm.

Here's another great thing about Boston: The reference desk at the BPL. You ask them a question, and they answer it. When the whole Newstead Montegrade issue exploded into the news a couple weeks back