I've Ben Wondering About This One

Okay, here is a little colonial history lesson for everyone. It begins with a question. And the question is: what is this .....?

If you know what it is, I'm impressed.
I walk the dogs up and down Main Street every morning, and I first noticed this marker in front of the North Congregational Church when one of the dogs, for lack of a better way to say it, disrespected Mr. Franklin. And then I wondered, each time I went by, what was this milestone and why, if it was indeed a milestone, was it so vague as to what it was a milestone of? As far as I can see, the brick-shaped stone on the bottom doesn't have anything inscribed on it. I wondered why something about such an important American was marked in plain view, but hidden in its meaning. I wondered if this was where Ben Franklin coined one of his famous phrases? Was it where he invented one of his many inventions? Where he signed a treaty? Built a post office? Or was it merely where he conceived one of those things? Maybe it was where he spent the night once? Had a meal? Went to church? Stopped for a visit? Or because it was a small milestone, maybe it was something trivial, like the only place he ever stepped foot in Woodbury? It really bothered me ..... if this was a milestone worth marking, what was the occasion? Finally one day I did some research to see if there was anything about it online. It is such a humble little monument, I didn't hold out much hope. But then again, it's Benjamin Franklin, so I figured it was worth a try. And what did I find out? Here is it, copied shamelessly and without citation from a couple of websites, but they put it into words better than I can:

"This is one of the mile stones put here by Benjamin Franklin. In 1763, Ben was Assistant Postmaster General of the United States. He had a devise on the wheel of his chaise (two wheeled cart drawn by one horse) that marked off miles. He went from Boston to New York marking off each mile; the distance was two hundred fifty four miles."

"In front of the North Congregational Church circa 1818 look for a Milestone erected by Benjamin Franklin indicating that Litchfield is 14 miles. In 1752 Franklin became Postmaster General and by 1760 he succeeded in connecting most of the colonial centers with organized mail routes by marking miles with stones such as this one to improve the system of mail delivery."

So there you have it ...... the milestone is literally a mile stone! In my 21st century mind, I thought it was a milestone, when infact it was a mile stone. Who knew?! I didn't, but now ...... you do!