A year-long restoration effort has prepared one of Arlington’s most historic treasures for enjoyment by future generations.
Members of the Dr. Elisha Dick chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) held a rededication ceremony for Boundary Stone Southwest 8 on April 10.
At the time the 4-foot-high marker was placed in the ground in 1791, it marked the boundary between Virginia and D.C. Today, it denotes the border of Arlington and Fairfax counties in the 6100 block of Wilson Blvd near the Upton Hill community.
The boundary stones and others like it are “living pieces of history woven into our very own communities,” said Kathleen Mayer Rugh, Virginia state regent for the DAR. They’re reminders of the “vision, sacrifice and determination that shaped our young nation,” she said at the ceremony.
The restoration effort included new metal fencing to protect the boundary marker. It is modeled after the designs used by the DAR in 1915-16 after the organization acquired deeds to most of the markers and worked to “save the stones from oblivion,” said Katherine McCarron, who chairs the chapter’s historic preservation committee.
“Southwest 8” was not among those gaining protection in 1915. McCarron said a farmer on the land refused to give DAR permission to fence it off.
The marker later disappeared, only to be rediscovered in the Columbia Pike area by a hiker in the late 1940s.
On Dec. 5, 1950, DAR officials held a dedication ceremony for the stone, which sits on the highest point of any of the original boundary markers. Since its 1950 dedication, the marker has been tended by members of the Alexandria-based Dr. Elisha Dick chapter of DAR.
The chapter dates back to 1937. It was named to honor Elisha Cullen Dick (1762-1825), an Alexandria physician and one-time mayor (1804-05) who was friends with his fellow Mason, George Washington.
He was among the physicians summoned to Mount Vernon on Dec. 14, 1799, as Washington lay dying. Four days later, he presided over the Masonic rites at Washington’s funeral.
An enslaver for much of his life, Dick had a change of heart in the early 1800s, emancipating his slaves and becoming a Quaker.
Linda Ferrara, regent of the chapter, told ARLnow the rededication effort was one of her organization’s works to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States.
“We are delighted to celebrate” its completion, she said.
The color guard from Joint Base Andrews joined the ceremony.
Southwest Stone 8 is at the property line between the Patrick Henry Apartments (constructed in 1955) and Seven Corners Apartments. DAR officials thanked the management and staff of both properties for supporting the refurbishment of the marker site.
Residents of the adjacent apartments may not know it, but they occupy land with a connection to one of the most famous songs of all time.
During the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe visited Fort Ramsey, a Union Army outpost then located on Upton’s Hill near the boundary marker. From her experiences watching a military review there in 1861, Howe was inspired to pen the words of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Sandstone for the boundary markers was quarried in Aquia Creek, Va., which also provided the building blocks for the White House and early stages of the U.S. Capitol.
While the boundary marker can be visited, non-resident parking is not allowed at the two apartment complexes. There is street parking nearby.
