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By jove, it looks as good as the day it was carved!

By adamg on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 10:36am
On the Newton/Boston line

Inspecting Marker No. 19 at the Newton line in Brighton.

One of our oldest and least known laws is the requirement for municipal officials to "perambulate the bounds," or walk their borders once every five years to make sure nobody's moved the boundary markers.

The City of Boston Archives has posted a set of photos of Boston officials braving harsh conditions in 1896 (imagine: they had lots of snow back then) to make sure nobody dastardly in Newton or Hyde Park or any of the other places surrounding Boston had tried to expand their borders at the city's expense. Also included: Maps of where all the markers were (and probably still are).

Marker 19. Also note the Faneuil train station, which was destroyed to make way for the turnpike.Marker 19. Also note the Faneuil train station, which was destroyed to make way for the turnpike.

Neighborhoods: 
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Brighton
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Comments

By bibliotequetress on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 11:15am.

I love your posts from the city archives. Thanks, Adam!

By anon on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 11:54am.

I second that! These unique historical snippets are a nice reprieve.

By Saul on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 12:07pm.

Also note Union Market Station on the abandoned Watertown Branch of the Fitchburg Railroad, that branched off from the mainline near present-day Alewife (map) and which rejoined the mainline at Waltham (map). The right-of-way of the branch is still plainly visible in aerial views.

By Alex_Toth on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 10:17am.

Actually has the line been officially abandoned? Obviously the right-of-way is no longer usable, with big trees growing through the tracks near Fresh Pond. I know when they rebuilt the rotaries on Fresh Pond Parkway they spent a lot of effort with signage and track grading to allow the railway to remain. That wasn't that long ago.

I also remember reading a while ago that they used to run a train back and forth every now and then just to keep the line legally open, and that at that time the tracks were so bad the small loco they used had derailed just doing that.

By HenryAlan on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 10:27am.

Portions are being converted to trail, which is fine, that can always technically be reconverted to transit. But there is at least one spot where a building had been placed across the ROW, rendering it not so useful. The same thing happened to the line branching off of the Needham line in West Roxbury that goes to Dedham Center. Most of the ROW is still intact with the exception of 3 houses that the MBTA allowed to be built. There were plans at one time to extend the Orange Line to Dedham via West Roxbury and this branch. Won't happen now, even if money and will were available. Same goes for the Watertown Red Line branch.

By Saul on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 10:42am.

Henry, is this the spot, in Watertown, to which you're referring?

http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.36837,-71.197854&spn...

Two wooden trestles over the Charles, in Waltham, remain from the line. Here's one, with a footbridge in the foreground --

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-sn...

By Ron Newman on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 12:27pm.

From School Street west to Irving Street, it looks like at least two buildings (industrial?) block the right-of-way:

http://g.co/maps/2fzy8

From School Street east to Arlington Street, the right-of-way has already been converted to a paved trail, with a spur added to reach the Arsenal Mall. East of Grove Street, the tracks are still present (though in terrible shape). This is the section where the trail will eventually extend towards Cambridge.

By HenryAlan on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 12:16pm.

I meant a built intrusion on the ROW before it reaches Watertown Square. I don't know if there was ever a plan to extend as far as the location you've found. Here's where I was thinking about:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.36837,-71.197854&spn...

[edit]Looks like Ron Newman beat me to it. It's the same place he posted.[/edit]

By Michael Pahre on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 1:36pm.

#18 must be back behind the ice rink along Nonantum Road. Worth an exploration -- when the weather is better.

By rsybuchanan on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 7:45pm.

My girlfriend and I have been talking about getting out my 4x5 camera and going on a ramble to photograph any remaining monuments we can find when the weather warms up a bit. If we're feeling particularly enterprising, we'll make up some glass plates for negatives so we can do it up right.

By adamg on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 7:50pm.

Dale and Windham streets in Roslindale - marks the boundary between the city of Boston and the town of Hyde Park, whose 100th annexation anniversary seems to have gone completely unremarked.

By Flatheadjake on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 11:53am.

There's still one on River St between Rector Rd & Caton St

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 1:52pm.

"Walking the bounds" is an old custom deriving from Elizabethan England. All cities and towns did this, not just Boston. It was - maybe still is - the law in MA and NH:

http://www.nhlgc.org/publications/item_detail.asp?...

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/1496/hist...

I remember hearing how neighboring towns would pick a day and the selectmen would meet and walk together along their common borders. I believe Bedford and Burlington were still doing this a couple of decades ago.

By adamg on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 2:35pm.

Chapt. 42, sec. 2 of the Mass. General Laws (link up yonder in the original post).

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 2:22pm.

Or have they?

It is still the state law, but I've rarely heard of town or city officials actually walking the bounds unless there is some town bylaw that says that they must.

In this day and age, it could become a civic event - although it would take several days in Boston.

By tenfortyseven on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 7:04am.

We always look forward to the swirly report. Thx for not disappointing us.

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 2:20pm.

You never disappoint, either!

Now, you better run along and catch that ropey thing hanging off of your rear end before it gets away! Hurry! Bite it before it bites you!

By tenfortyseven on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 8:33pm.

See you next Tuesday, Swirl :)

By SwirlyGrrl on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 10:00pm.

n/a

By MattMedia on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 4:18pm.

Such a bummer that the Faneuil stop and Faneuil neighborhood aren't called such anymore. That family deserves more credit. Too bad Peter's sisters ended up loyalists...

By TC abnewsflash on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 8:38pm.

The intersection of Arlington and Faneuil Street is still known as Faneuil Square. Not so much, the surrounding area being called Faneuil, although I heard it used occasionally, years ago.

Marker 19, shown in the photo, seems like it is along my regular dog-walk route, so I may sniff it out.

The street where I live is within the map, but didn't exist at the time.

By Ron Newman on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 11:30pm.

Map

By Sarcastic Sam on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 4:09pm.

..and I'm not even from the area.

While shopping for houses about 10 years ago at least one well-rooted real estate agent referred to the area as Faneuil while showing houses.

By Hillary on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 5:30pm.

Why on earth didn't they undertake this in the summer? Is part of the requirement that it be done at the beginning of the year?

By NotWhitey on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 5:55pm.

When men were men, and the region didn't shut down every time it snowed out.

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 9:47pm.

Actually, getting around in the brush and scrub and swamps is far easier in the winter. Marshes are frozen (see markers 1-9 in the photoset), swamps are frozen or dry, and you don't have to hunt through abundant vegetation while being bitten by mosquitoes infected with malaria or yellow fever to find your marker!

By NotWhitey on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 5:56pm.

Makes me want to wear a bowler hat. Men just looked better then.

By tblade on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 10:56pm.

#8 looks to be in someone's cellar:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofbostonarchives/...

By anon on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 7:26am.

http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/apps/SurveyLayouts/hist...

Every town has info like this here

Town bounds still come under dispute because so many are based on features that move over time

By Craiggles on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 9:46pm.

Just made up a map to make it a little easier to figure out the locations. If anyone has any fixes or better ideas about where they go, feel free to fix them!

Map!

...I get altogether too excited about this sort of thing/have way too much time on my hands.

By adamg on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 10:22pm.

The bounds perambulator in the family doffs her hat to you.

By Ron Newman on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 3:38pm.

Perhaps someone (maybe even me?) accidentally picked it up while editing, and dropped it around Melrose or Malden.

Do Google Maps have any sort of source control or version history, like Google Docs do?

By Craiggles on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 5:26pm.

It kept glitching while I was editing it on my phone this morning, that might've been it.

There's no history as far as I can tell, I'll have to drop a suggestion in google's box.