Milestone XIV

This stone was my introduction to the Benjamin Franklin Milestones in the 1970’s, when I became a member of North Congregational Church, the backdrop for this milestone. The stone had already been “decapitated”, as shown in the Bicentennial photograph and, in fact, in the 1922 Sage photograph.  It now has an apparent fracture line at the current soil height (about a foot higher than shown in the 1922 photo). The “Benjamin Franklin Milestone” plaque is visible in both of the more recent photographs.

Sage (1922)

Bicentennial Report (1976)

Hampton (2013)

North Congregational Church arose from a schism at the turn of the nineteenth century with the First Congregational Church, which was originally located in the vicinity of Milestone XV. Allegedly, members from the northern parts of town wanted the new church built closer to them. A review of church records in the acquisition of the new location might make some reference to the milestones.

This is furthest north along the "Middle Road Turnpike" portion of the Woodbury-Litchfield series of milestones. Roughly following modern-day Route 6, the building and private ownership of Middle Road Turnpike from Danbury to Farmington was authorized by a private law in 1803, divided in Woodbury into "East Middle Road Turnpike" and "West Middle Road Turnpike" by the legislature in 1823.  (Resolves and Private Laws of the State of Connecticut: From the Year 1789 to 1836. Vol I - II. Hartford: John B. Eldredge, 1837.)

Lat: N 41° 33.085'

Long: W 073° 12.289'