A Lost Milestone

I came across an interesting article about how, in 1877, a relic from the past was discovered in the walls of a barn being razed.

Aug 18, 1877 Newtown Enterprise

Milestones showed the distance to various places, this one to Philadelphia. 24 Miles, 64 Perches. This stone was discarded and repurposed, only to be rediscovered. The date on the stone is 1767, the paper was in error.

Heilig House, where the stone stood

Amazingly, 14 years later the second half of the milestone was found during another demolition.

Newtown Enterprise May 16, 1891

In tearing down the walls of the old stone barn the upper part of the monumental stone was found imbedded in the walls, and was taken to the then office of J. P. Hutchinson, which was on the corner now owned and occupied by Dr. Chas B. Smith, where it laid many years. Years passed away. Then Dr. G. T. Heston, on State Street, tore down an ancient carriage house preparatory to putting up a modern barn or stable, and in this wall another, but smaller piece of the stone was found, and on taking it up to Mr. Hutchinson's, it was ascertained to fit exactly on the upper piece. It is now together and makes up the part on which the above inscription was carved, and is probable, about all that was above ground of the ancient landmark. It stands by the stone steps of Mr. Hutchinson's office today. 

I asked my friend Clint Flack, from the Mercer Museum, if they had the stone and after some searching he confirmed that they sure did. He sent me a picture of it, along with it's accession information showing that J. Herman Barnsley, father of historian Edward R. Barnsley donated the stone to the museum in June of 1916. 

Newtown Milestone

Accession Information

The current whereabouts of the other half are unknown. If they were indeed together at J.P. Hutchinson's property, Barnsley would've donated both pieces. Who knows when the other one will pop up again, these things managed to get lost and found a few times already.