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Hie Meridian Line
and its markers
Sutphin ran a true northsouth meridian line sometime between September 1895 and April 6, 1896. His bill for the work stall exists in a box of records in the basement of the County Clerk’s Office. He tells of planting a southern marker on the hill in front of Mrs. Hackley house (Mount Prospect), and the northern marker at the edge of the property owned by the Menefee sisters (behind the current Rappahannock News office).
Probably when Sutphin received the job in September 1895, he and Utterback rode about the Town of Washington on horseback, looking for an appropriate site to establish the meridian line. Back then, there was no four-laned Route 211, just a dirt road coming in from Amissville, following the current Old Mill Road and Warren Avenue up to Mam Street, and then turning left toward Sperryville. Mount Prospect was selected because it was on high ground, had a dear view north and south, was centrally located and easily accessible off the Turnpike to Sperryville, and there were no mineral deposits to adversely affect a compass.
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