Southold Town Milestone #29

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Framed by a small copse of trees, milestone #29 is sandwiched between the farm fields on one of the last working farms in the Orient area. The open farmland in the area has been producing food since the 1670s. The stone which was conserved and reset only a year ago has already been knocked askew.

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Backstory and Context

Author-Uploaded Audio

Listen to a narration of this entry's description by Amy Folk.

Text-to-speech Audio

Southold Town has across the length of the town a series of granite milestones. In 1829, New York State mandated that, “It shall be the duty of the commissioners of highways of each town, to cause mile-boards or stones, to be erected, where not already erected, on the post-roads, and such other public roads in their town, so they may think proper, at the distance of one mile from each other, with such fair and legible inscriptions as they may think proper.” (New York State. The Revised Statutes of the State of New York. Albany, New York: Packard and van Benthuysen, 1829. 503)

Since Southold only had one road that ran from west to east, the stones were installed along the length of the town on what was then the King’s Highway. The miles on the stone indicated the distance between the stone and the county offices in what was then Suffolk Courthouse (Suffolk CH), now known as Riverhead.

All of the stones were originally set up on the south side or east bound side of the road. Today the majority of the stones remain where they were originally set. While the stones are interesting in themselves – after saying that the stones are made from granite and weigh about 450 pounds each – there is not a lot to say about them.

Some of the stones sit in places that are dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. Please be aware of traffic! Also most of the stones are on the edge of private property, please be respectful.

Sources

Abbott, Katharine M. Old Paths and Legends of the New England Border. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907.

Earle, Alice Morse. Home Life in Colonial Days. London, England: Macmillian Company, 1898.

Folk, Amy Kasuga. Images of America Oysterponds East Marion and Orient. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2015.

Kasuga Folk, Amy. Milestones of Southold Town. Lecture, Southold, New York: unpublished, 2015.

State, New York. The Revised Statutes of the State of New York. Albany, New York: Packard and van Benthuysen, 1829.

Tuthill, Seth H. "Southold Town Records, Liber E." Southold, New York: Unpublished, n.d.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Amy Kasuga Folk