I really enjoy finding things like this.
You can be walking along an old railroad bed or following what looks like an ordinary trail through the woods, expecting nothing more than trees, weeds, and an overgrown path.
Then suddenly, you notice something.
A short concrete post.
It may be only knee-high. It may be weathered, partly covered with moss, and sitting quietly off to the side of the path. At first glance, it doesn't look particularly important.
But look a little closer, and that tiny marker can tell you something fascinating about the landscape around you.
In this case, the clue is the lettering associated with a State Road Department (SRD) right-of-way marker.
That little piece of concrete may be evidence of an officially surveyed road corridor that existed long before the landscape looked the way it does today.
And honestly, that's the kind of discovery I love.
What Is a State Road Department Right-of-Way Marker?
A State Road Department right-of-way marker was used to identify the boundary of a road's official right of way.
You'll often see the abbreviation “R/W,” meaning right of way.
A road right of way is the legally established corridor in which a public road and its associated infrastructure can exist. Depending on the particular road and jurisdiction, that corridor can include the roadway itself as well as shoulders, drainage areas, slopes, utilities, and other necessary space.
So that seemingly ordinary concrete post isn't necessarily marking where the pavement ended.
It's marking something much more significant:
the boundary of the land reserved or established for the road corridor.
That makes it a kind of physical record of an old transportation landscape.
Why Would a Tiny Concrete Post Matter?
At first, a concrete marker doesn't sound terribly exciting.
But here's where things get interesting.
Roads don't always disappear in a dramatic way.
Sometimes they're abandoned gradually.
A new highway is built. Traffic is redirected. A road becomes less useful. Maintenance stops. Pavement deteriorates. Vegetation begins reclaiming the edges.
Eventually, the road may be little more than a dirt track.
Then a faint depression.
Then perhaps nothing obvious at all.
But a concrete marker can survive through all of that.
The trees can grow back.
The pavement can disappear.
The signs can be removed.
And local memories can eventually fade.
Yet the marker may still be sitting there, quietly documenting what once existed.
The Meaning of “R/W”
