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By Peter G. Engeldrum & William Swanton
It all started at a Winchester Historical meeting. Winchester residents William Swanton and Peter Engeldrum were chatting about the Middlesex Canal as the conversation drifted toward Engeldrum’s latest film about Winchester’s boundary markers.
Engeldrum was explaining to Swanton that he could not find the granite post that was a “witness mark” to the boundary marker, or corner, that was in the middle of Mystic Lake.
At that point in the conversation Swanton exclaimed that there was a marker in his backyard, and in fact, there were two granite posts. One was laying on the Mystic Lake shore line, but was only visible when the lake was low.
In surveying, a witness mark is an aid in the recovery of a property boundary line or a corner. A corner is where a boundary changes direction.
After checking out the granite post in Swanton’s backyard, it was indeed determined that it was the West Corner number 2 witness mark. As described in the 1899 Winchester Survey, it had an A on the face toward Arlington and a W on the face toward Winchester.
But what was the granite post lying on the shore of Mystic Lake all about? Well, that was more complicated.
When Winchester was incorporated on April 30, 1850, the boundary corners had to be marked, typically with granite posts. The posts had to be engraved with the initial of the town that was facing the post. So the original Corner #2 witness mark should have a W on one face and on the opposite face a WC.
Why a WC? The answer is that the town of Arlington was called West Cambridge until 1867; 17 years after the marking the boundary of Winchester.
So Engeldrum and Swanton decided to check the granite post lying in Mystic Lake, but they had to wait until the lake level receded. Well this summer Mystic Lake was low enough for them to excavate the old post.
Fortunately, the upturned face had some engravings on it. It was clear there was a W on this face along with what appeared to be some other engravings. The task now was to flip this rough cut piece of granite over so the reverse side was visible.
A day that was projected to be in the 90’s with a dew point of 70+, was probably not the best time to try to haul a half ton chunk of granite on its back. But our intrepid historians/archaeologists/boundary hunters were not deterred.
After an hour and a half of struggle and lots of sweat, the old post was on its back with the sun shining on the letters for the first time in over a century. And the letters were — WC!
With the W, and other engravings, on one face and a WC on the other face, this rough granite post was most likely the original 1850 Corner #2 West witness mark. It was probably just dumped in the lake, after 1865 when the Mystic Lake dam was built raising the level of the lake by 6 feet or more.
Sometime after 1867 when West Cambridge became Arlington, this post was discarded and replaced with the present post.
But what about the other engraved characters on the posts W face? It was probably a recycled post. Yet another mystery.
There will be more about corners, witness marks and Winchester’s changing shape in Engeldrum’s new film called “The Changing Shape of Winchester,” which will have its world premiere at the Jenks Center, 109 Skillings Road, on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.
