Ordnance boundary stone number one has been found just in time for the 200th anniversary of its placement as per the order of E.W. Durnford, commanding officer of the Royal Engineers on June 19, 1823.
Ordnance boundary stones, used to mark the boundary between town land and military reserves, are some of the oldest historical artifacts in the Old Town. To date, 19 of the 37 stones have been found.
Just last week, Richard Larocque, an Ontario land surveyor, and Ted Rumble, board member of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, found stone #1 on the
Niagara Parkway, just past the John Street parking lot. Rumble posted the find on social media: “Eureka! Ordnance Boundary Stone 1 found! Placed near the river walking path in 1823, 200 years ago this year. So exciting!”
Local residents John and Liz Vanderperk first heard about the stones through Rumble’s 2019 posts. “During COVID, John and I would get on our bikes and off we’d go” looking for these stones, said Liz.
“I have always known about these stones, but never knew what they were until I started following Rumble on Facebook,” said John. “The stones mark the beginnings of our town.”
As fortune would have it, the Vanderperks went looking for that first stone and found Rumble in the brush on the parkway this past rainy Sunday. John took a waypoint reading to identify the stone’s GPS coordinates.
Historically, after the War of 1812, townspeople were afraid of another attack, explained Rumble. After a series of land swaps with private owners, the town had four military reserves “which made it a heavily militarized town.”
The town owned an area designed for a hospital bordered by Johnson, Nassau, Queen and Dorchester Streets. This ‘hospital block’ was swapped with the military and became a military reserve, marked by four posts, all of which are still there today.
The stones are made out of Queenston limestone from the Queenston Quarry. The Royal Engineers Workshop, which was where the stones were made, was located at Queen’s Royal Park.
“All the stones are the same,” explained Rumble. They are nine inches square, made of white limestone. A broad arrow is the mark of British property and is carved over the initials B.O., which stands for Board of Ordnance. On the other side a number indicates which stone it is.
Some of the stones have been pulled out by the Niagara Harbour and Dock Company while others have dropped below grade. Some have sidewalks or roads paved over them.
Rumble’s interest started with his home’s proximity to OBS 23 at the corner of Simcoe and Prideaux. “This stone was here for 200 years and was intact,” he said. Since then, however, the stone was broken by a sidewalk snowplow. The top of it is currently sitting in the town offices.
Frank Racioppo, owner of Queenston Quarry, and business partner Joe Lamanna, are making a duplicate stone to replace OBS 23.
“The recognition and repair of these ordnances is a matter of historical importance,” said Racioppo. “This is internationally significant. The Royal Engineers installed and marked land with this emblem all over the Commonwealth. The BO marking is so distinctive, Joe and I are thrilled to see it engraved on our prized Queenston limestone.”
“Queenston Limestone is 400 million years old; hence, a new stone made 200 years later is not new at all, as the old and new stones will appear the same about 100 years from now,” said Racioppo.
“Special thought has to be given to the tooling and style of the markings on new stones,” he explained. “These are very important archaeological artifacts that you want to know and distinguish between the stones that were cut and finished 200 years ago versus the stones that are cut and inscribed today.”
“The 200 year anniversary makes it even more special, and I encourage our community to get behind it.” Racioppo said. Joe, Ted and I will do our best to engage the local community with the goal to complete this special task at no cost to the town.”
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa says he is aware of the importance of these stones. “Residents came forward several months back and updated the council on the background and significance of the ordnance boundary stones. Council agreed in principle, and asked our heritage staff to work on bringing some suggested next steps for the community,” he said.
According to Rumble, the best-preserved stone is OBS 26, at the inner corner of the Charles Inn and best approached from the ninth tee of the NOTL Golf Course.
More information about ordnance boundary stones can be viewed on the NOTL Museum’s YouTube channel. Three more stones have been found since the airing of that video, which includes many artifacts, such as the letter written by Durnford, various maps indicating town and military property, and the location of the stones.
