Back in 1961, a friend of mine had a camp up near Bridgton which we used to visit in the summer. I was 20 at the time and had only recently discovered the Maine 2 Footers via Moody's book. So naturally we did some exploring in the area. In spot south of Bridgton there was a stretch of old roadbed right next to the highway. It was sand ballast with nearly all the ties still in place. We got out and walked some of it. In doing so we discovered a wooden mile post still standing beside the roadbed. The paint was gone but you could still make out letters/numbers "embossed" on the wood. One side had BJ 15 and the other had H 6. My friend had a pickup truck so we came back with it and dug out the post and loaded it in the truck. This was broad daylight, in plain view, no houses around but the highway only 20 feet away.
I took the post home and "planted" it in my yard, painted it white with black letters, and there it stood for 20 years. When we sold the property after my parents had passed on, I dug it up and cut off the bottom which had pretty serious rot issues. Then I donated it to the Walker Transportation Collection at the Beverly Historical Society & Museum, where it remains today.
They also have an SR&RL mile marker which is a square wooden post with a metal sign mounted on the top with the miles indicated from up around Dead River. It was picked up over 30 years ago and was badly deteriorated.
