As I recall, you're correct that the Post Mark'd West is *not* to same as
PADEMD. It was a reference point that established the latitude for the west
line. The actual tripoint was a bit west of the post.
Unfortunately for those who like neat lines and angles, PAMDDE did *not*
occur at the point where the New Castle Arc met the west line. Instead, the
800-acre or so Delaware Notch was the result. IIRC, the notch at one time
was claimed by PA after the three counties once controlled by Penn and his
heirs became Delaware instead of the three lower counties of Pennsylvania.
If this claim had stood, the PADEMD tripoint would be due south a mile or so
of where it presently is, and PA would have a miniscule "tooth" of territory
south of the Mason Dixon Line.
-----Original Message-----
From: m06079 [mailto:
barbaria_longa@...]
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 12:01 PM
To:
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] re mason dixon preliminary points
please see below for an addition to the following excerpts from
message 10452 about how mason & dixon got to their mdpa starting point
the ref is to a book by edwin danson entitled drawing the line
which btw i still havent seen but am looking for
--- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "acroorca2002" <orc@o...> wrote:
> thanx kevin
> sounds like a book many of us will enjoy
>
> after some searching
> i believe i have found the location you mentioned on south street
> & will look for a commemorative plaque or something
> on the specified north wall
> next time i blow thru there
>
> are there any more data in the book about this most precious
> initial point
> > > > Once it was established as a line 15 mi (IIRC) south of
> Spruce
> > > Street in
> > > > Philadelphia
> > >
> > > you probably do recall correctly
> > > as it was to be 15 miles south of the southernmost point of
> > > philadelphia at that time
> > > but how did you arrive at spruce street for it
> > > & what part of spruce street if you can say
> > >
> > >
> > My error, it wasn't Spruce bur rather South Street, then known
> as Cedar
> > Street (and I used to live in Philly, no lessl shoulda known
> better).
> > Anyway, prior to Mason and Dixon's arrival in Philly, the joint
> commission
> > of PA and MD reps had stipulated with input from city officials
> that the
> > "southernmost point in the city" would be the north wall of a
> house on the
> > south side of Cedar (now South) Street near the corner of
> Second Street. The
> > constant latitude would be an E-W line 15 miles south of this
> point. Of
> > course, because the Delaware River flows SWerly here, Mason
> and Dixon had to
> > survey a course due west from the southernmost point, far
> enough to be west
> > of the presumed place where the New Castle Arc would drop
> below the West
> > Line (the point that should've become PADEMD but did not
> because of the
> > problem of The Wedge) and then drop 15 miles due south to
> mark the latitude
> > of the West Line. (This became the "Post Mark'd West," which
> was actually
> > within the 12-mile New Castle Arc; Mason and Dixon had to
> proceed west from
> > there tp begin the actual PAMD West Line at the Arc limit.
> >
> >
> > > > (minus the land enclosed by the New Castle arc, of
> course),
> > > > there was a real concern that the MD-VA line (the right bank
> of
> > > the Potomac)
> > > > might actually swing so far north that it would extend north
> of
> > > the MD-PA
> > > > boundary. Now *that* would have been interesting.
> > > >
> > > > So what is the speculation here as to how that situation
> might
> > > have been
> > > > equitably resolved among VA-MD-PA?
> > >
> > > it might have been equitably resolved the same way kymotn
> was
> > > resolved
> > > which was for the surveyors to just follow the agreed specs
> > > whatever happened
> > > thus producing in that case the kentucky bend exclave
> > > & in our speculation a similarly detached western md exclave
> > > as you anticipate below
> > >
> > > > VA was supposed to have the lands south
> > > > of the Potomac; but if the river flowed north of 44 deg
> latitude,
> > >
> > > actually if the river flowed anywhere north of the latitude
> agreed in
> > > 1760 as you describe it above
> > > or in other words mason & dixons 39d43m17s6
> > > aka mdn of today
> > > for example 39d43m15s521 nad27 at mdne
> > > then it would have done as you say here below
> > >
> > > > it would
> > > > have punctured PA and cut off eastern MD from western
> MD,
> > > creating a large
> > > > enclave. How else could this have been resolved?
> > >
> > > i suppose a particularly generous & whimsical pa mightve
> given
> > > to md the part of itself that wouldve fallen south of the
> potomac
> > > & thus produce a sausage chain of 3 mary lands
> > > connected only by 2 mdmdpava tristate quadripoints
> > >
> > However, I wonder whether Virginia would have interceded and
> actually
> > claimed the land south of the Potomac that under these
> circumstances would
> > have been north of the Mason Dixon Line and therefore
> arguably in PA? Just
> > think, if the commissioners had said 17 miles instead of 15
> miles south of
> > the southernmost point in Philadelphia, we would have had
> this very problem.
ok so i have returned in the interim to the question of how mason &
dixon got to their starting point
& tho i cant reconcile various conflicting latitude figures
i have determined from some online sources that the mentioned house
on the south side of south street near second street belonged to
thomas plumstead & joseph huddle at the time
& i am hoping this extra detail may be enough to find the house in
question
or its successor
even if it isnt marked today with a historical plaque
but that is only preliminary point 1
in the meantime
i have also zeroed in on the second preliminary point mentioned above
situated about 30 or 31 miles due west of the first one
on the john harlan farm near the forks of the brandywine
a point actually marked by mason & dixon
by a monument still known today as the stargazers stone
so there are now at least these 2 preliminary targets
but in addition i have also found some additional indications that
the actual initial point of the mason dixon west line
aka the post marked west
may not have been the same point as modern mdne or demdpa
but may actually lie some distance east of it
as i think the above description may also suggest
so there may actually be 3 preliminary mason dixon points to find
but can anyone offer any further info about any of these 3 points
before i go off looking for them all
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