Boston Post Road - Northborough, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 19.194 W 071° 38.535
19T E 282267 N 4688676
An historic marker on the Route 20 (Main Street) in Northborough, MA summarizes the history of Benjamin Franklin's role as Joint Postmaster General in the establishment of milestones along the Old Boston Post Road.
Waymark Code: WMR6ZE
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 05/19/2016
Views: 3
An historic marker on Main Street contains a bronze plaque with a silhouette image of town's Franklin mile marker with the inscription 33 miles to Boston. It is further explains the importance of the Boston Post Road and how Benjamin Franklin was able to determine the location of the Franklin mile stones along its route.
BOSTON POST ROAD
Main Street once was part of the old Boston Post Road. Colonist first used the Boston Post Road to carry mail between New York and Boston in 1673. The post riders followed Native American paths. The Boston Post Road was part of a network known as King's Highway that eventually extended to South Carolina and connected the Colonies before and during the Revolutionary War.
In the 1760's Benjamin Franklin, then Joint Postmaster General for the British Crown in North America, ordered milestones to be placed along the Boston Post Road to Mark the most direct route to Boston. Franklon is said to have measured the road himself with an odometer strapped onto his carriage wheel. One of Franklin's granite milestones still survives on East main Street - 33 miles from Boston.