Carved in 1708 by John Hartshorn, the milestone has been an important campus landmark throughout the Academy’s history. John Dummer commissioned this milestone to be carved and, breaking with Puritan tradition, chose to publicize his role in the installation of the carved stone. This caused a rivalry with another local family, the Sewalls, who commissioned their own milestone in response to the Dummer stone. By installing these stones on their property, families like the Dummers and the Sewalls were able to solidify their importance within the community. Today, while some milestones have disappeared, Newbury is still home to several original stones including one two miles from the Dummer stone on Middle Road, several along Route 1, and another on the Newbury Upper Green. The letters on each stone indicate the name and the direction of a nearby town, while the numbers mark the distance to the town in miles.
A team of experts in stone monument preservation helped return the milestone on our campus to its former glory. The stone had been subject to different forms of environmental damage including sap droppings, lichen accumulation, and runoff from the road in the form of dirt, sand, and salt that caused part of the carving to be buried in the front. The stone had begun to lean back over the past 60 years, exacerbating some of these problems. One of the biggest concerns was cracking that occurred in part due to lichen and roots that penetrated the stone.
In order to address these concerns, the Academy selected Fannin-Lehrer Conservators to examine the stone, propose a course of action, and complete the necessary work. As an experienced, award winning stone preservation firm, they were the perfect choice for the job.
Says Academy Archivist Sharon Slater, “While some might ask why we would not just go to the stone with scrub brushes and clean it off, as may have been done in the past, we chose not to take this route. Concern about existing damage and the possibility of actually causing further damage was the main reason conservators were employed. Another reason was that in order to expose the triangles carved at the bottom of the stone, the stone needed to be raised and supported underneath.”
The conservators spent a week working on the milestone, beginning with removing the loose material using toothbrushes, water, and a non-corrosive biological solution known as D/2. This solution is the standard in monument preservation, used on many national treasures including the Washington Monument and Arlington National Cemetery. This time consuming process of removing all of the biological material took many days and many toothbrushes!
The repositioning of the stone involved returning it to a more upright position which will also minimize future damage due to droppings on the stone. Additionally, the stone was moved back several feet from the road, to protect it from snow plows. The stone now sits atop a buried cement platform to keep it from sinking into the ground and obscuring the double triangle which served as the Dummer family symbol on the stone.
The last step in this preservation project involved using lime mortar in the side crack to prevent any further cracking along this fissure.
While these photos give you a peek into the work done, we encourage a visit to campus to see this important artifact in person!