Cambridge, Massachusetts: Marker: Leif Erikson's House Was Here

An engraved granite slab, set flush with the ground, claims to mark the spot where Leif Erikson's House stood in the year 1000.

Address:: US Hwy 3, Cambridge, MA
Directions:: The plaque is mounted flush with the ground, next to the sidewalk, on the north side of US Hwy 3/Memorial Drive/Gerry's Landing Rd at its very busy intersection with Greenough Blvd. The plaque bumps up against the south edge of the property of Mt Auburn Hospital. Best to take the subway to Harvard Square and walk the sidewalks to the site. Parking is impossible.
Admission:: Free

Visitor Tips and News About Marker: Leif Erikson's House Was Here

Reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.

Leif Erikson house marker.

Site of Viking Leif Erikson house

In the late 1800s proper Bostonians were not very happy that Columbus, an Italian, had discovered America. They preferred someone more Nordic. Leif Erikson filled the bill. It was their good luck that an eccentric millionaire, Prof. Eben Norton Horsford, discovered some stone foundations that he said were proof that the Vikings had built their city of Norembega just west of Boston around 1000 AD. The professor went around town building monuments to their former glory. This granite marker showing the site of Leif Erikson's house is one of his relics.

[Bill La Civita, 09/18/2013]

We tried to find this legendary marker a few years ago and failed; turns out we were on the wrong block. Good thing we weren't the navigators on those ocean-crossing longships.