Does anybody know the exact end points of a 1901 official relocation of the TNVA
state boundary through downtown Bristol?

Here's the history:

When this community was originally laid out, the planners very unwisely placed
the street grid such that the property line on the north side of the main
downtown street (then called "Main Street," now "State Street") ran along the
state boundary. Thus, the whole street and both sidewalks were in Tennessee.
The fact that Virginia buildings could be built in such a way that they could
only be entered through Tennessee attracted certain shady businesses and created
problems for law enforcement. As modern utilities began to arrive on the scene,
it was not possible for the right providers to serve the Virginia businesses
from the Tennessee street.

In 1881, the city councils of the two municipalities took it upon themselves to
declare that the center of the street would be the boundary. Of course, this
was legally bogus, but they had made up their minds. By act of January 28,
1901, the State of Tennessee ceded sovereignty over the north half of the street
to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The latter accepted it on February 9th, and
the change was ratified by the US Congress on March 3rd. Only then was it
official. One would assume that an official survey and demarcation ensued.

I made a quick visit to Bristol about ten years ago while passing through the
region. State Street runs for roughly 2.2 miles through the downtown area. The
middle of the street is made obvious in several ways as the boundary, not the
least of which is a difference in pavement. What is less obvious is any
endpoints for the boundary relocation. At the eastern end of its straight run,
the street curves off into Tennessee as the boundary goes invisibly on across
the middle of East Hill Cemetery. At its western end, the street forks, with an
Exxon station on the point. No survey markers were obvious to me at either
place to mark any jog in the boundary.

Has anyone studied this matter, or can anyone point me to a legal description of
the boundary change? I can't locate any of the legal acts on-line, and topo
maps are of little help due to scale.

Thanks,

Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA