Most everybody has heard about the Mason and Dixon Line. But not many really know much about it.
The Salisbury Semi-Weekly Truth-Index, on April 8, 1902, told the story of the line as it was being resurveyed. A headline read: “Some interesting information regarding this old landmark.”
The story went on to say:
“A good deal of romantic and sentimental interest attaches to the Mason and Dixon’s line, which is being resurveyed and remarked by authority of the legislatures of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
“Originally it was intended merely as a mark of boundary between the possessions of the Penn family on one side and Lord Baltimore on the other, but in later years it became the frontier between two warring sections whose armies pushed desperately forward to cross it.
“Prior to the breaking out of the war between the states, Mason and Dixon’s line marked the northern boundary of slavery and the southern limit of abolitionism.
“On the one side of the line was ‘the north’ and on the other side ‘the south,’ conflicting elements separated by an imaginary mark of division, yet as assuredly separated in interests as if there had been a gulf between.
“Mason and Dixon’s line was old, nearly a century old, when the clouds of civil war lowered upon it. The gentlemen who surveyed it, Chas. Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, were commissioned in 1763 and they completed their task and were discharged in 1767.
“At intervals of five miles. large stones were set up to mark the boundary between the lands of Penn and Lord Baltimore. The stones were brought over from England for the purpose.
“On one side of them was engraved the letter ‘P’ and on the other ‘M,’ the former facing north and the latter south.
“In addition, the stones bore the arms of the land’s proprietors. The intermediate miles were marked with smaller stones bearing merely the initials. Years ago, more than half a century, the stones began to disappear.
“Ten years ago it appeared likely that the historic boundary would become lost, or at least involved in doubt. Recently the Pennsylvania and Maryland legislatures ordered the resurvey and the new markings. The engineers are now engaged in the work.
“About a dozen of the old stones have been found. Some of them were performing prosaic duties. Instead of standing as sentinels along the line between the formerly divided sections, they were serving as door steps, as lining for bake ovens, as horse blocks and the like.
“The persons using them protested against giving them up, not because of their historical interest, but because they were serving a purpose. However, they were finally secured, and will be given their old places, firmly secured in bases of cement. In cases where the old stone markers are missing, iron posts will be supplied. The work of locating the line has been tedious, but it will shortly be crowned with success.”
— Savannah News
This was 99 years ago this April. Does anyone hereabouts know how the markers stand today? If so, e-mail me at
frank@salisbury.net or phone me at (704) 857-5429.
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