The Milestone on campus was erected in 1708 by John Dummer who was marking an event important to him, the establishment of the Byfield Parish Church. Although the meeting house was built in 1702 and the Reverend Moses Hale was chosen as the first minister, the church was on land that had no public roads leading to it. In 1708 the parish determined that every member should grant access for others to reach the church. These pathways were incorporated into the Bay Road which had been established in the 1660’s, cutting through the Dummer farm and on through the marshes to Thurlow’s Bridge.
Two milestones were already in existence in Boston. They had been erected in Boston the previous year by Judge Samuel Sewall, a relative of the Dummers. Sewall was the first to mark distances this way in New England. John Dummer hired John Hartshorn to carve a milestone on his property. Hartshorn had left Haverhill after his family had been killed in an Indian raid. He settled in Byfield where he carved the first gravestones for Byfield Parish. You can read more about the Dummers and the carvers in Stories Carved in Stone: the story of the Dummer family, the Merrimac Valley Gravestone Carvers, and the Newbury Carved Stones, 1636 – 1735 (LH 974.4511 GAG.)
Our Milestone is a major part of our Commencement ceremonies. Following the ceremony on the front lawn of the Mansion House, faculty process to the Little Red Schoolhouse where they are joined by the senior class for the last time. As the schoolhouse’s bell is rung, faculty march around the Milestone and form a line to the wall. Seniors follow, walking around the Milestone and then thundering past their teachers to leap over the wall and into the future.
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