Gayle Harris of the District of Columbia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) will speak at a May event in Fairlington on the "History of the Boundary Stones (1791-1792)." This will be the first public event sponsored by the Fairlington Historical Society (FHS) for 2002. In addition to the early history, Ms. Harris will outline current regional activities to establish ownership and maintain the stones.

Ms. Harris, retired from the Library of Congress, is a 40-year resident of Fairfax County and Alexandria. She is President of Research Unlimited, Inc. (which provides research assistance to intellectual property law firms). With the D.C. DAR, she is Chair of (1) the Literacy Committee, (2) the World War II Memorial Campaign, and (3) the Boundary Stones Committee.

In her presentation, Ms. Harris will outline a brief history of the Boundary Stones, set in 1791 - 1792, which marked the 10-mile square of the new "Federal City" (surveyors were Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker). She will also discuss the "Retrocession in 1846" of the Virginia portion of the original District of Columbia as well as early 20th century efforts to protect the stones. These efforts culminated in the 1915 decision (in the absence of any governmental cooperation whatever) by the Daughters of the American Revolution to maintain the stones. She will explain the specific history of Fairlington's Southwest #4 stone and the current composition of the Nation's Capital Boundary Stone Committee (of which she is a member) and issues being addressed by it.

In 1791, after years of controversy and debate over the location of the permanent Seat of government, President Washington issued a proclamation giving the exact boundaries of the district for the permanent seat of government". By late June of 1791 of that year, all of the land owners had signed the necessary deeds. The 36 stone mile markers (plus four corner stones) of the original boundary of the District of Columbia were put in place from 1791 - 1792 by Andrew Ellicott. The south corner stone was ceremoniously laid at Jones' Point on April 15, 1791. Larger stones are laid at the North, South, East and West corners of the original ten-mile square.

Southwest Mile Marker 4 is just north of Alexandria near the Fairlington Historic District on King Street between Interstate 395 and Wakefield Street. The stone is greatly reduced in size, is surrounded by an iron fence, and currently maintained by the Daughters of the America Revolution. The Fairlington Historical Society (FHS) has begun discussions with the District of Columbia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) which currently maintains the site around the historical DC Boundary marker located next to Fairlington on King Street. The FHS has agreed to take on the task of maintenance of the site.

Ron Patterson, President of the FHS, has been named to the "Nation's Capital Boundary Stones Committee". The task of the Committee is to review a variety of current ownership and maintenance issues regarding the 40 stones which were placed in a square in the latter part of the 18th Century to outline the boundary of the new nation's capital of Washington. The Committee plans to make recommendations to the Federal Government and local jurisdictions aimed at securing consistent maintenance of these historic markers.

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See Also

• background Article and Links on Boundary Stones
• DAR web site on Boundary Stones (with map of locations)
• "One Such Marker" by Lorraine Drolet
• 1908 Photo of Boundary Stone SE 4 in the District of Columbia

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