The leaders of Rye made historic preservation a top priority back in 1927, when they commemorated a set of milestones as relics from 1763.

The engraved stones measured each mile from New York to Boston, and legend has it that Ben Franklin himself set them to determine the postal rates. Rye officials fought to reclaim one of the stones from publisher George Palmer Putnam, who had built it into his front porch.

But the Boston Post Road milestones, such as they are today, demonstrate how difficult that task can be....