However I thought of another marker on the drive home that evening that was much more meaningful to me personally. I suggested the South Cornerstone for several reasons: it was the first stone placed and thus the most significant historically it rested along a beautiful stretch of the Potomac River the site included an old lighthouse the surrounding park featured other amenities such as a bike trail and a basketball court there was a large easily-accessible parking lot, and so on. However I wanted to frame a response that encouraged those in attendance to visit a marker that offered more than a simple stone enclosed within a wrought iron cage like the world’s smallest cemetery. I liked all of them from a geo-geek perspective and they all look pretty much the same. A member of the audience asked very simply if I had a favorite boundary stone. One question caught me a bit off-guard and I think it may have been the question I enjoyed the most. I didn’t see much yawning in the audience and listeners asked a lot of pertinent questions that showed they were paying attention. The speech allowed me to meander down a few geo-oddity tangents as well, like telling one of my favorite stories about the multi-jurisdictional Woodrow Wilson Bridge. I rambled on for about half an hour and I thought I did acceptably well, although one never truly knows. Soon enough I found myself stepping up to the podium. Time had a way of slipping away as it always does and February arrived before I knew it. I was slated for their February meeting which seemed like a lifetime away when we made arrangements last July. I was also delighted to know that someone actually read and enjoyed one of the more obscure pages on my site that I’d tucked away in the attic, probably covered with cobwebs. So I knew I might never get another chance. That was the first time anyone had ever requested such a thing in the eight years I’ve written Twelve Mile Circle and the twenty years I’ve posted material related to my interests on the Intertubes. I’m one of those rare people who doesn’t fear public speaking, and in fact I quite enjoy it so of course I accepted the offer. Making Arrangements District of Columbia in 1835 before RetrocessionĪn official with the Stone Bridge chapter found my Washington, DC Boundary Stones page and wondered if I might be interested in introducing the topic to the group at one of its monthly meetings. Since this was a group based in Northern Virginia, I placed a special emphasis on those markers on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. On Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of presenting a speech about the Washington, DC Boundary Stones to the Stone Bridge Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Ashburn, Virginia.
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