The 1791 boundary stones in Falls Church

At the edge of Falls Church, inside two small fences, stand two blocks of sandstone, each a foot or so across. They were set in 1791 to mark the line of the federal district that became the District of Columbia. Of the 40 stones placed along that line, 36 survive, and together they are counted as the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States.

This guide covers why the line runs past Falls Church, what the stones say, and where to find the two in the city's parks.

Why the capital's line runs past Falls Church

The Residence Act of 1790 created a federal district of 100 square miles on the Potomac, on land ceded by Maryland and Virginia. The district was laid out as a square, 10 miles on a side, turned so that its corners pointed north, south, east and west. On most maps it looks like a diamond.

President Washington appointed three commissioners to oversee the work. His proclamation of March 30, 1791, named Jones's Point, at the mouth of Hunting Creek in Alexandria, as the starting place, and the south corner stone was dedicated there on April 15, 1791, in a Masonic ceremony. A survey team led by Major Andrew Ellicott then cleared a corridor along the line, working clockwise and setting a stone at each corner and about every mile between. The Virginia stones went in during 1791 and the Maryland stones in 1792. Ellicott reported the job complete on January 1, 1793.

The square's western corner landed at what is now the edge of Falls Church. In 1846 the district's land south and west of the Potomac was returned to Virginia, so the stones on this side now sit in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax County and Falls Church. Thirteen of the surviving stones are in Virginia.

What the stones say

The stones were quarried near Aquia Creek in Virginia, and most weighed about half a ton when they were set; the four cornerstones were a little larger. Each face carries a standard inscription. The side facing the federal territory reads "Jurisdiction of the United States," with the distance in miles and poles from the last corner. The opposite side names the state, Virginia or Maryland. The remaining two sides give the year and the "Var.," the variation of the compass needle at that spot.

Much of that lettering has worn away. Stone SW9, for example, rises about 15 inches above the ground and probably runs about 2 feet below it. Its crown is rounded, and the lettering is only partly readable, in part because the stone has sunk. The side reading "Jurisdiction of the United States" faces northeast, into Arlington, which was federal land in 1791. The side facing the City of Falls Church keeps the remains of "Virginia." A third side shows "1791."

The fences came later. In 1906 Fred E. Woodward read a paper to the Columbia Historical Society on the condition of every remaining stone and recommended small fences around each one. Local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution began putting them up in 1915.

The west cornerstone

The west cornerstone is one of the four corners of the original square. It stands in Andrew Ellicott Park, a small park south of North West Street whose address is given both as 2824 Meridian Street, Falls Church, and as 2824 North Arizona Street, Arlington. Records place the stone in three jurisdictions at once: Arlington County, the City of Falls Church and Fairfax County.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 1, 1991, with most of the other Virginia stones, after the Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution submitted them as a group. Measured in a straight line, the park is a little under half a mile north of Cherry Hill Farmhouse.

SW9, the Banneker stone

The ninth stone on the southwest side of the square stands in Benjamin Banneker Park, along North Van Buren Street just south of 18th Street North, near the East Falls Church Metro station. Most of the park is in Arlington County; Isaac Crossman Park is across Van Buren Street at Four Mile Run.

In 1976 the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation led the effort to name the stone for Benjamin Banneker and have it declared a National Historic Landmark. It became "Benjamin Banneker: SW-9 Intermediate Boundary Stone," and it was the first of all the boundary stones to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Banneker, who lived from 1731 to 1806, was a free African American mathematician and astronomer. He assisted Ellicott during the early months of the survey. He had left the team before this stone and most of the others were laid, so the name honors his part in the survey rather than the setting of this particular stone.

The Four Mile Run Trail begins in the same park, so SW9 makes an easy start or end point for a walk or ride; our trails guide covers that route.

More stones to the south

The line continues southeast through Arlington toward Alexandria. The next stone, SW8, is close by on Upton's Hill, near 6184 Wilson Boulevard along the driveway into the Patrick Henry Apartments, about 100 feet southeast of a water tower. A sign on its fence notes that it is not in its original spot. Beyond it, SW7 sits behind 3101 South Manchester Street near Carlin Springs Elementary School, and SW6 stands in the median of South Jefferson Street south of Columbia Pike.

The survey held up well. When the District of Columbia's GIS program resurveyed the boundary with GPS in 2011, it found that Southeast stones 6 and 7 were 5,280.824 feet apart, within a foot of an exact mile.

Visiting

Both stones in the Falls Church area are in public parks, so there is no one to ask. Elsewhere on the line, some stones sit beside streets, some deep in the woods and some on private land, where owners are generally willing to let a respectful visitor take a closer look. The stones are old, worn sandstone: look through the fence and leave them be.

Falls Church has had a hand in their care. The city sat on the Northern Virginia Boundary Stones Committee, which issued recommendations in 1995 to document and preserve the Virginia stones, and in 2008 it joined Arlington, Fairfax County and Alexandria in agreeing to help fund a preservation project. Volunteers have also landscaped around the stones and repainted the fences.

Using our listings

The park at the west cornerstone appears in our Museums and Galleries category under the name DC Cornerstone Park, alongside Cherry Hill Farmhouse and Tinner Hill Historic Park. Isaac Crossman Park, across the street from SW9, is in our Parks and Outdoors category. Our listings for public sites give the address and, where we have one, a phone number; check hours with the site before you go.