The Morris-Jumel Mansion (right), on 160th Street east of St. Nicholas Avenue, is a lovely time capsule of the 18th century city.
Built in the 1760s by British colonel Roger Morris as a breezy hilltop retreat called Mount Morris, it was used as a headquarters by George Washington during the Revolution. (Yep, Washington really did sleep here!)
In 1810, wealthy couple Stephen and Eliza Jumel turned it into a French-inspired country home, where they entertained prominent residents of the young city.
After her husband died, social-climbing Eliza’s new spouse, Aaron Burr, moved in—a fascinating story for another post.
Anyway, two hundred years later, the Georgian-Federal style mansion is a museum. But perhaps the most interesting relic is a slab of stone on the grounds outside the house.
It’s a mile marker. Before GPS, maps, and even a city street grid, mile markers were set in the ground on roads outside the city. They let travelers know how far they were from today’s downtown.
This mile marker says we’re 11 miles north, not a short distance back in the day.
An accompanying plaque explains that the mile marker was originally placed in 1769 on Kingsbridge Road, which ran along Broadway, according to Myinwood.net.
Mile markers have been disappearing for generations. Apparently a nine-mile marker remained in Upper Manhattan until as recently as 1991.
As far as I know, there’s only one other mile marker left in the ground: this beauty on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. I hope it’s still there.
Tags: Aaron Burr, Aaron Burr marriage, Eliza Jumel, Kingsbridge Road Manhattan, MIle Markers in New York City, Morris-Jumel Mansion, Mount Morris Upper Manhattan, Ocean Parkway mile marker, Washington Heights history
Ephemeral New York 
May 13, 2013 at 5:47 pm |
This marker would have stood originally on or near property owned by Stephen Jumel, who had a plot on the east side of the Kingsbridge Road between about 166th and 175th and a plot on the west side between about 172nd and 175th.
As the sign notes, the mile marker was moved in 1819, probably as a result of John Randel’s thorough survey of the island begun in 1818, which corrected many earlier maps and surveys. http://www.mcny.org/sidebars/randel-farm-maps-online.html
May 13, 2013 at 5:48 pm |
who are “The City History Club”?
May 13, 2013 at 11:18 pm |
There is still a King’s Bridge (Albany Post) Road mile marker set into the stone wall on the west side of Broadway a few feet north of the 207th Street A train exit. For more information, see: http://myinwood.net/old-post-road/
May 14, 2013 at 4:44 pm |
There’s also a mile marker in its original location in the village of Richmond on Staten Island, which served as the county seat from colonial times until the 1920s when it moved to St. George. It says “6 Miles to N York F” which means it was six miles to the New York (Manhattan) ferry landing at the foot of modern day Vanderbilt Ave in Clifton. Luckily, Richmond Town is now a beautiful historic village and they wisely left the mile marker alone.
May 18, 2013 at 1:23 pm |
Was going to mention the 12-mile marker at Isham Park. There’s also several markers still standing in Westchester County. I came across the 48-mile marker in downtown Peekskill a few years ago. The DAR restored that marker back in 1908 but then unfathomably bolted a plaque right onto the center of it!
January 14, 2014 at 3:49 pm |
It`s sad to see all these cities disappear…
October 27, 2014 at 8:22 am |
[…] you visit the lovely Morris-Jumel Mansion in Washington Heights and see a mysterious red-haired beauty, don’t be […]