Ah, Newstead Montegrade, we hardly knew ye!

Thanks to some crack detective work by the Boston Public Library and some never-say-die stick-to-it-tiveness by Ron Newman, the U.S. Geological Survey's Board on Geographic Names - the official government arbiter of place names - has issued a ruling on whether Newstead Montegrade actually exists:

The must-see destination of the year!

Earlier: The mystery of Newstead Montegrade.

Every time eeka does a MapQuest search that involves Roxbury, a place called Newstead Montegrade shows up.

Now according to the map, it's just a spot in Franklin Park, but you can find it by searching for the "city" of Newstead Montegrade, MA. Do a Google search and you find plenty of other sites that also seem to think Newstead Montegrade is one of Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns (or should that be 352?). In a word, WTF?

This site offers Newstead Montegrade weather and invites users to upload Newstead Montegrade photos. This site notes that Newstead Montegrade is one of the nearest cities to Roxbury Crossing. And this site offers "Newstead Montegrade Adult Chat."

For $9.95, you can buy a topographical map that includes Newstead Montegrade (map is non-returnable, so make sure you really want it).

The youth of Newstead Montegrade are Taking IT Global (whatever IT is).

Field trip, anyone?