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(Photo by Stephen Powers, 2016.)

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Blue Plains Impound Lot; Washington, DC

The stone is at the southeast corner of the lot on the Maryland side of the fence, a short distance from the lightposts. This is a replica stone created in 2015 and placed in early 2016.

The most direct way to reach the location is to take Oxon Hill Farm Trail south from D.C. Village and then, after crossing the border into Maryland, follow the access road along the chain link fence west until you reach the back of the impound lot. This direct walking route will almost certainly take you through some very swampy territory, however. A cleaner and easier route is to take the Oxon Hill Farm Trail south from D.C. Village, and then, before crossing the bridge over Oxon Creek, follow the unpaved path to the right, southwest along the creek to the large clearing with overhead power lines. Follow the clearing northwest to the fence along the Maryland border and then walk a short distance southwest along the fence to the corner of the impound lot.

The original stone was removed in 1958 during construction and then either lost or stolen from a storage facility before it could be reset in the ground. On March 23, 1962, D.C. DAR placed a new inscription-less stone in the same location along with the original stone's iron fence. By 1972, this stone too was in trouble, as described by Edwin Darby Nye in a paper read that year before the Columbia Historical Society: "SE8, at the far end of the D.C. Village Area, has become a victim of a large land-fill operation, involving the D.C. auto impounding area, the new sewage treatment plant, and an eighteen-hole golf course being constructed by the National Park Service. SE8 is covered with some eight feet of landfill. A sixty-inch concrete pipe has been placed over the stone, iron fencing and all, and a cover placed over it to protect it. The stone has been uncovered and after excavation has been completed it will be reset in a proper location."

Unfortunately, nothing of the sort occurred, and the substitute stone was completely covered by landfill until 1991 when the bicentennial resurveying team dug it out of the ground, using old photos to approximate its location. The team then decided that the best way to preserve the stone was to put it back underground, this time protected by a taller pipe that was visible above the surface.

The substitute stone was removed in 2015 and returned to D.C. DAR, which gave it to Boundary Stone Public House, located at 116 Rhode Island Avenue NW in Washington, DC. Boundary Stone occasionally displays the substitute stone on the sidewalk. The current replica stone was placed in early 2016.

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