Older town entrance sign, MA 21 NB.


You naughty boy, this is Aquinnah now. On the tiny, repressed isle of Martha's Vineyard, the only place I've seen this style of guide sign.


Attempted old sign on Union St. NW at Pleasant St./Columbian St. in South Weymouth. It may actually be old, but it's still an attempted sign.


Anawan St. EB and Ferry St. at Mulberry St., Fall River.

Olde style in New Bedford.


Osgood St. EB and WB in Methuen at the Spickett (sometimes Spicket) River. If I heard a siren in this industrial area, I'd do a lot more than stop. Depends on the siren and the amount of fire.


I've made my Pilgrimage (*groan*).


The strange Sandisfield sign at the beginning of MA 183 NB is courtesy Doug Kerr and is now gone.


Park St. WB in West Springfield after US 20 leaves.


Starting with a cobbled-together sign on Mill River-Great Barrington Rd. SB near Mill River, where if there ever was an extra intersection leg it sure is obvious now that the sign faded, or else you can clearly tell the sign was borrowed. The two embossed sign photos (one with glass reflectors) are on County Road heading west from there to US 7. The speed limit sign is similar to Massachusetts' old font, but I believe it's a more modern knock-off by one or two of the local towns.


I don't remember how I headed south from Waltham, but these signs were along that road.

Church St. SB, south of MA 117 in Kendal Green.

Redundancy in Waltham, along with the old New England font, on a dead-end spur from the actual Charles St.


Courtesy Doug Kerr, I'm not sure how old this all is, but it's handpainted on wood, so it must be old, right? Main Rd. south of Tyringham.


Amherst Rd. at Enfield Rd. by the United Church of Pelham. This sign has long ago ceased being remotely useful no matter how hard one stares at it.


Driving Sheffield-Egremont Rd. NB from US 7 to MA 23/MA 41. The first and last photos are the old, embossed signs; the middle photo is strange and may be old (it looks like residents hand-painted these wooden blanks).


Hopkinton Road WB, Upton. This style disappeared in the 1960's at the latest, and can be found on many other pages throughout my site.


Waltham St. at Crafts St., Watertown, courtesy Dan Vincent. The sign is dated March 1970, and looks every day of its age. Pretty soon, a metal sign with a modern, straight arrow and modern font will replace this relic.

The remainder of the signs on this page are courtesy Michael Summa until the very last one. You want old, I'll give you old - all but one of his photos were taken in 1982, and the exception is even older.


All state signs (Mass. Dept. of Public Works), all on unidentified roads, all outdated even then. The reverse U in the school bus turn is the first time I noticed that MA's old signs actually specified whether the school buses were U-turning from your direction to the other side, or as in this case, from the other side to join your side.


These signs, like the arrow signs, can still be found in many places around the state, especially on roads without route numbers that either are or were state-maintained. 1982 was less than ten years removed from the characteristic MA font with the notched 4.


The oldest signs in his collection on this page - an enamel stop sign dating to the 1950's (once the red color was popular but before button copy was banished from street signs), and an even older curve sign photographed in 1976.


When it comes to old, Michael Summa can give anyone a run for their money, but I can trump that with a sign originally intended for carriages. That's the horseful variety, not horseless. This 19th century cast iron sign pointed to a town long since wiped off the map. It's amazing that only one letter has popped off the sign, and all of the remaining ones are securely fastened with two nails. The most amazing part about this sign, to me, is the disembodied hand floating suspiciously to the right. Maybe the ghost belonging to that thing had a hand (gotta get a pun in where I can) in spooking the residents away.

More old signs around Mt. Washington
Old town line signs
Leverett and Leverett Rd.
Old signs on MA 71
Old signs on MA 106
Back to Massachusetts Roads
Back to Roads