Mile Markers

As Americans, we really like to memorialize things. It certainly seems like if anything of even minimal historical significance happens somewhere or if there's a house or other object that's stood since the 1800's it will end up with a plaque on it sooner or later. Not that that's a bad thing by any means, but sometimes it seems a little strange.

            Here's an example of what I mean. Between Fremont and Rossford, Ohio, along the north side of Rt. 20 is a series of square stone pillars, each one with different number on it. They're fairly easy to miss if you aren’t paying attention. I must have driven that stretch of road dozens of times but I didn't notice them until last weekend. It didn't take long for me to realize they are old mile markers, from before they started marking miles at county lines.

            While I drove I kept an eye out for each one. I was on a long drive with nothing better to do, so why not? Driving West, the numbers on the markers counted down. But when going through Woodville, still watching out for each one, I spotted the sixteen mile marker in front of one of the storefronts downtown. This marker seemed to sprout from the middle of the sidewalk and right next to it on a post all of its own was a plaque. Of course I had to stop.

            The plaque offered as much information about the mile markers as it could I suppose. It certainly offered more than I asked for. I found the whole situation amusing. Just the fact that memorializing a mile marker seems silly, but at the same time it had piqued my interest enough to get me to turn around and stop. What was most surprising was that most of the mile markers were still there. Some had obviously been moved, but were still visible from the road.

            That’s just one example, but it’s one of those things that if you kind of stumble upon. It allows you to learn about things, but at the same time gives you a sense of discovery and exploration. Maybe that’s why we like to memorialize things in this way. People discover something interesting, then share the information in such a way that the rest of us can get that same feeling.