08/18/2025
One of the many cool pieces of history that we get to retrace daily!
Shhh... don't tell anyone, but there's something really cool buried in the ground near the Washington Monument. Sometimes called the "mini monument" the 12-foot-tall marker is a square pillar with a pyramid on top that resembles the nearby 555-foot-tall monument to George Washington. Officially known as Benchmark A, it dates back to the 1880s. Decades later, it was sealed in a shaft when the low hill was built around the Washington Monument. Benchmark A is part of the network of a million discs, plaques, and other markers across the country that help the National Geodetic Survey make sure all of the government’s maps are accurate. Still important to map makers, it's been mostly forgotten.
Photo by National Park Service.