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You never know what you'll see at the Witness Post

Dragonfly at Witness Post in Dedham

The Army Corps of Engineers maintains a "witness post" at the dam that diverts some of the Charles River into the Mother Brook in Dedham. It's probably related to the little metal tube next to the post, from which the corps probably can easily draw out some water for tests, but we'd prefer to think it's a place to see things we don't usually see.

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Comments

Typically a Witness Post indicates a survey land marker is in it's immediate vicinity. Those markers are at ground level and often hard to find, particularly after a few years of turf/ground cover/shrubbery growing over them. However a witness post, usually about a meter tall (convenient height to hammer down to) is much easier to spot from a distance. A few minutes of searching will find a firmly seated ground-level marker nearby, complete with an embossed X for the actual point.

There was indeed a little metal tube next to the post, although I didn't look to see if it had an X on what looked like its cap.

If it's a corporate boundary, as most of these are, it will have other markings indicating exactly what marker it is. Navigating between these is a great map-and-compass exercise.

I would like to think of this in the context of a religious "witness", the message? We must protect our environment. Clear signs from God everyday, just watch the Weather Channel for a bit. The Post is just a good place to proselytize? I don't know, I'm a heathen, but I do like the idea of a "witness post".

to witness the post.

WITNESS IT

Go forth, and wander throughout the world, and wherever you go, give witness to the post, saying, "I have witnessed the post. It is a post."

Do not like or retweet

There. Now it's in your head.

I feel like I'm dying

(Now let's see who gets this one)

Usually found close by to a whipping post.

It is a postal system for members of the Witness Protection Program.