Jefferson Pier Stone

In The Hesperus Prophecy, the Jefferson Pier Stone is deeply meaningful to the Clypeate. Located where the Greek Potomac River and Roman Tiber Creek met, the location fulfilled prophecy and marked the original entrance to Clypeate Headquarters. This is where Thomas Edison and the Powell family escaped from the Obturavi attack in 1898, and in 1939 James spent weeks chipping away at the concrete around the marker’s base so he could return to Clypeate Headquarters and rescue Declan.

Although the stone sits on the Washington Monument’s hill, the Jefferson Pier is barely a footnote in American history. This spot was an original prime meridian of the United States, and while it was never officially recognized, its importance is indisputable. Lines drawn through its location bisect the White House and Capital Building at a perpendicular angle.

The stone’s engraving, now defaced, once announced the location’s importance:

POSITION OF JEFFERSON PIER ERECTED DEC 18, 1804.
RECOVERED AND RE-ERECTED DEC 2, 1889.
A line, now chiseled off, read “BEING THE CENTRE POINT OF THE” DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

The location was first marked with a wooden post in 1793, then replaced with a stone marker in 1804. This spot was located on the south bank of Tiber Creek, near the creek's confluence with the Potomac. During construction of the Washington Monument in 1848, ships used the Pier Stone as a mooring post. Afterward the marker fell into obscurity, until 1889, when the current stone was placed above the original marker. Over time the riverbanks were built up and marshes filled in, the newly created land becoming the site of the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool, and all evidence of the Jefferson Pier’s importance was erased.

Jefferson Pier Stone’s inscription, note the chiseled out 5th line.

Early D.C. map shows marker location, where Tiber Creek meets Potomac River

RIght angles drawn from White House and Capital meet at the Jefferson Pier, the original meridian

The Jefferson Pier sits in obscurity on the Washington Monument’s hill