Jones Point Lighthouse; Alexandria, VA

The stone is located in an opening in the seawall of the lighthouse at Jones Point Park on the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The lighthouse was built in 1855, and a seawall was constructed in 1861. As documented by Woodward and others, the stone was hidden behind this seawall until June 1912. Because the stone remains in an enclosure in the wall, it can be difficult to view in its entirety.

According to the Records of the Columbia Historical Society (Volume 2, pp. 60-61), on March 25, 1794, the district commissioners requested that the city surveyor remove the original ceremonial stone and "have a large stone lettered 'The beginning of the Territory of Columbia,' prepared and fixed at the beginning of the territory, in the presence of some of the gentlemen who were present at the fixing of the small stone now there." By June 21, 1794, this replacement stone was in place.

As Woodward noted in a reading before the Columbia Historical Society on March 18, 1913, "The stone is slightly varied in shape from the remaining ones, being about eleven inches by nearly fourteen inches, instead of the usual twelve by twelve." Additionally, as observed in a Washington Times article from June 23, 1912, "The inscriptions are almost illegible, only portions of the letters being visible, these being on the southwest side, the southeast side bears a part of the date, the figure '7' being discernible. ... The two remaining sides are unmarked and bear no evidence of ever having been inscribed."

Washington City and Capital, published in 1937, states that the original ceremonial stone was later buried beneath the fence around St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, a short distance away. The Basilica of St. Mary was founded in 1795, and the cemetery's first recorded burial took place in 1798, so perhaps this burial of the original ceremonial stone did not occur immediately.

Zoom to street map.