The Geodetic Survey Baseline, located
in a section known as Epping, north of Harrington, has played an important
part in the establishing of state boundaries and property lines in northern
New England and in surveying the eastern United States coast. The base line
resembles nothing more than a dirt road but it stretches for five miles
straight as a die and perfectly level across the blueberry barrens. Laid out
in 1858, by A. D. Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, the base
line's need was stressed by the United States Secretary of War, Jefferson
Davis, later president of the Southern Confederacy. Davis reportedly visited
the site via the Airline Road.
| Click
on photo to enlarge |
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| Baseline
Road, Washington County 12/11/05 |
Frog
Rock on Baseline Road 12/11/05 |
Mitton
Mountain and Barrens of Centerville, Maine 12/11/05 |
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