On this day in 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The survey was part of a resolution to Cresap’s War, a border conflict involving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
Maryland’s charter of 1632 granted Cecil Calvert land north of the entire length of the Potomac River up to the 40th parallel. A problem arose when Charles II granted a charter for Pennsylvania in 1681. The grant defined Pennsylvania’s southern border as identical to Maryland’s northern border, but described it differently, as Charles relied on an inaccurate map. The terms of the grant clearly indicate that Charles II and William Penn believed the 40th parallel would intersect the Twelve-Mile Circle around New Castle, Delaware, when in fact it falls north of the original boundaries of the City of Philadelphia, the site of which Penn had already selected for his colony’s capital city.
The issue remained unresolved until Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore ceased contesting the claims on the Maryland side and accepted the earlier agreements. Maryland’s border with Delaware was to be based on the Transpeninsular Line and the Twelve-Mile Circle around New Castle. The Pennsylvania–Maryland border was defined as the line of latitude 15 miles (24 km) south of the southernmost house in Philadelphia (on what is today South Street). As part of the settlement, the Penns and Calverts commissioned the English team of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to survey the newly established boundaries between the Province of Pennsylvania, the Province of Maryland, and Delaware Colony.
The surveyors also fixed the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania and the approximately north–south portion of the boundary between Delaware and Maryland. Most of the Delaware–Pennsylvania boundary is an arc, and the Delaware–Maryland boundary does not run truly north–south because it was intended to bisect the Delmarva Peninsula rather than follow a meridian.
The Mason–Dixon line was marked by stones every mile 1 mile (1.6 km) and “crownstones” every 5 miles (8.0 km), using stone shipped from England. The Maryland side says “(M)” and the Delaware and Pennsylvania sides say “(P)”. Crownstones included both coats of arms.
Many of the original stones are still visible, resting on public land and protected by iron cages; a number have gone missing or were buried. The actual locations of the stones may differ a few hundred feet east or west from the exact positions where Mason and Dixon intended to place them, still, the line drawn from stone to stone forms the legal boundary.
The lines have been resurveyed several times over the centuries without substantive changes to Mason’s and Dixon’s work, and additional benchmarks and survey markers were placed where necessary.
Maryland/Delaware boundary marker at the southwest corner of the Delaware-Maryland border, near Mardela Springs, Maryland, USA
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Today is the birthday, in 1981, of Irish singer-songwriter and musician, Una Healy, best known for being a member of girl group The Saturdays. They made their chart debut in July 2008 with ‘If This Is Love’, which reached the top ten in the UK. Its follow-up single ‘Up,’ (2008), debuted at No.5 on the UK Singles Chart and to date has sold over 345,000 copies in the UK alone and stayed in the charts for 30 weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKtEWdYWHZQ
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