Next they surveyed a line due west thirty one miles to Embreeville, Pennsylvania, where they established an observatory and set a reference stone, eventually dubbed “the Stargazer’s Stone” it is still in existence.įrom there they surveyed due south fifteen miles and established the correct latitude of the Mason-Dixon Line (39 degrees, 43 minutes, 17.4 seconds). They then precisely established the latitude of the southernmost point in Philadelphia. Their first task was to resolve confusion regarding Delaware’s boundary with Maryland. In addition to surveying instruments and astronomical telescopes, their equipment included a precision chronometer based on the clock developed by John Harrison, the heralded winner of Parliament’s 20,000 pounds prize for conquering the challenge of determining longitude. Dixon was an accomplished surveyor who had worked with Mason before, on an aborted effort to record a transit of Venus across the sun, in Sumatra. Mason was the assistant to Royal Astronomer James Bradley at the Greenwich Observatory, a skilled astronomer. My son John reminded me that this journey has been commemorated by Mark Knopfler’s song “Sailing to Philadelphia”.
They arrived on Novemand immediately went to work. Eventually the proprietors hired Mason and Dixon to bring a kit of “leading edge” astronomical and surveying tools from England and perform a survey that would settle the issue permanently. This line would indeed intersect the arc defining Delaware’s boundary with Pennsylvania, which had never been correctly surveyed. The dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland continued for many years until the parties settled on a compromise, an east-west line at a latitude fifteen miles south of the southernmost building in Philadelphia. In fact, when a proper survey was finally made, it turned out that the fortieth parallel actually passed through Philadelphia, the large city that Penns had constructed, assuming it was well within their territory. Since the fortieth parallel is much farther than twelve miles north of New Castle, the two lines never meet. Based on Smith’s map, the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania (Easterne Bounds) was defined as being the intersection of the fortieth parallel and a circular arc with its center in New Castle, Delaware, and a radius of twelve miles. In 1681 King Charles I granted a charter to William Penn granting him land described as “The said Lands to extend westwards five degrees in longitude, to bee computed from the said Easterne Bounds”. The current latitude is about thirty nine and a half degrees – an error of about thirty five miles. The Crown’s basis for awarding charters was a map produced years earlier (1612) by John Smith, which indicated that the latitude of the northern end of Chesapeake Bay to be forty degrees. The misunderstanding occurred because of ambiguities in the charters originally given to the Penns and Calverts, proprietors of the respective colonies. The necessity for the survey was a long-standing dispute between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland regarding the location of the border between them. We have written several columns previously regarding the Mason-Dixon Line survey, but a brief summary is still relevant. There are only five ways to get out of the village – it took me three false starts to find the one that led to the Park.
I had no difficulty going down I-79 and getting into Mt. This particular event was the 249th anniversary of the termination of their survey there are plans to have a major festival next year to celebrate the milestone anniversary.įinding the Park was an adventure. The park is jointly owned by Monongalia County, West Virginia, and Greene County, Pennsylvania. On another lovely Autumn Saturday I drove to “the Original Mason-Dixon Historical Park”, in Core, West Virginia, to participate in a short hike to the point where surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon crossed Dunkard Creek for the third time, prior to ending their monumental survey at the peak of nearby Brown’s Hill. Incorporation of a New Borough - 1900 to 1910.The Bridgeville Area During the Early Years of Our Country.
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