A Red Granite Block In Perry, Maine Marks A Geographical Milestone

In the tiny coastal town of Perry, Maine, there’s a roadside stone that quietly stakes a claim to fame. It’s the oldest 45th Parallel marker in the United States. 

What is the 45th Parallel?

According to Atlas Obscura, the 45th parallel north is an imaginary circle around the globe that sits halfway between the Equator and the North Pole, a fun geographical fact that Perry has embraced for more than a century. 

Bache and Longfellow

The story goes back to the late 1880s when United States Coast and Geodetic Survey crews were charting the rugged Maine coastline. Two surveyors, Charles Meigs Bache and Samuel Longfellow, the brother of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, noticed a spot near town that was close to that halfway latitude. They stuck a brass pin in the ground beside a house with a red-painted chimney to mark it. 

Residents, worried that this little pin might be lost to time, decided to memorialize it more permanently. In 1896, they commissioned a block of Maine red granite with the inscription noting that it marks latitude 45° north, “halfway from the equator to the pole.” Though the stone actually sat in a barn for a few years, it was finally erected and dedicated on July 4, 1899, making it the first monument of its kind in the country. 

Still Standing For Over 123 Years.

Today, the marker still stands in a small rest and picnic area along U.S. Route 1 in Perry. Modern GPS shows the true 45th parallel lies about 140 feet north of the monument, but that doesn’t dull its charm or historical importance.

In 2008, the site was spruced up with an interpretive panel that explains its history, reminding visitors that Perry is literally and proudly “halfway there.”