America’s Historic Roads
Puzzle 78 · Building and Remembering the Network · Page 108 in print
Historic Mileposts
Washington’s Zero Milestone was dedicated in 1923 as a symbolic starting point for highway distances. Its granite shaft and bronze compass celebrated the idea of connected highways.
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The words
Brass Plate
Ground-level plate recording the survey information.
Bronze Compass
Metal direction marker on top of the monument.
Cast Iron
Metal used for nineteenth-century National Road mile markers.
Park Service: National Road - Fort Necessity (opens a new tab)
Elevation
Height established by the geodetic survey.
Horace Peaslee
Washington architect who designed the milestone.
Inscriptions
Words engraved on the milestone’s faces.
Latitude
North–south position recorded for the monument.
Lee Highway
Named highway whose association supported the monument.
Longitude
East–west position recorded for the monument.
Meridian
North–south reference line associated with the site.
Motor Convoy
Military vehicle expedition commemorated by the Zero Milestone inscriptions.
Pink Granite
Stone used for the monument shaft.
Portolans
Early navigational charts referenced in the disc design.
Wind Roses
Directional diagrams used as a model for the bronze disc.
Zero Milestone
Washington monument marking a symbolic distance origin.
Sources
- Zero MilestoneNational Park Service
- National Road - Fort Necessity National BattlefieldNational Park Service
- Zero Milestone, Washington, D.C.Federal Highway Administration