Mason Dixon Line

by Stephen Stookey

Title

Mason Dixon Line

Artist

Stephen Stookey

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The Mason-Dixon Line remains among the best known boundaries in the United States. Popularly associated with Civil War era delineation of northern and southern sympathies. The famous boundary line originated from a colonial era border dispute. Murky language in the original English land grants to the Calvert family for Maryland (1632) and to William Penn for Pennsylvania (1681) led to conflicting claims for land. An inaccurate map utilized by Charles II in his grant of land to Penn opened the door to later competing claims for land along the Potomac River near the 40th parallel. Surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were engaged to clarify the precise line of demarcation between the colonies. The famed Mason-Dixon Line resulted from a 4-year survey. Markers were originally placed every fifth mile. The survey fixed portions of the borders for four states--Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. Popular North-South identification with Mason's and Dixon's Line emerged in 1781 when Pennsylvania declared itself a slave-free state. The western portion of the Mason-Dixon Line along with the Ohio River came to demarcate the line between the slave-free North and the slave-holding South.

This Mason-Dixon Line marker sits along US 220 at the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line.

Uploaded

April 29th, 2016

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