| Map showing Tileston property and the intersection of Neponset Avenue and Adams Street and all the way to the Neponset River.
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Several readers pointed out to me that the scale on this map is shown as
| Map showing Tileston property and the intersection of Neponset Avenue and Adams Street and all the way to the Neponset River.
Click image for more information
Several readers pointed out to me that the scale on this map is shown as 10 chains to the inch. From Wikipedia: A chain is a unit of length; it measures 66 feet or 22 yards (20.1168m). There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong). The chain has been used for several centuries in England and in some other countries influenced by British practice. The clergyman Edmund Gunter developed a method of surveying land accurately with low technology equipment, using what became known as Gunter’s chain; this was 66 feet long and from the practice of using his chain, the word transferred to the actual measured unit. His chain had 100 links, and the link is used as a subdivision of the chain as a unit of length.
It seems that the early map intends only to show the distance from the Neponset River to Mr. Howe’s property, and that distance seems to be 103.7 chains or about 1 and 1/3 miles. This means that the logical divergence of roads is Adams Street and Neponset Avenue. As you can see from the 1874 map in comparison with the manuscript map, there are properties in 1874 still owned by the property owners indicated on the early map.