I spent some time this morning photographing an old mile stone dating from 1729 that sits in some bushes on Washington Street in Brookline, MA. It was cold, but fun.

The milestone sits right next to the sidewalk. I’ve walked by it many times while walking between Brookline Village and Coolidge Corner and back again.

Yesterday, while browsing photos on the Library of Congress web site, I came across photos of two mile stones in Brookline which were taken in 1940. I recognized one of them as the stone on Washington Street, so I decided to shoot some photos.

It is interesting to look at the two photos. Much has changed, much is the same. I let you discover that for yourself.

Equally interesting were the reactions of passers-by on this cold January day. The people passing my little photo expedition who expressed a reaction fell into two groups.

Group one were people who were clearly wondering what I was doing blocking the sidewalk. Their reactions turned to surprise as they realized there was something in the bushes they hadn’t seen before. It occurred to me that there are people who walk by the mile stone daily, but have still not seen it.

The second group of people went out of their way to let me take photos. For some reason, the sight of me photographing this rock made them happy.

I’ll go hunting for the other stone sometime next week.