Obscure American history trivia

State borders fascinate me. Quite interesting how they were formed so long ago.

Here's some history on the Four Corners after a story more than a decade ago said the monument was in the wrong place.

Why the Four Corners Monument is in Exactly the Right Place

 

Pulled out "How the States Got Their Shapes."

What was the southern border of Massachusetts, which had recently formed by the merger of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies? The Plymouth Colony's charter put the southern border of Massachusetts at 40 degrees N latitude. That turned out to be the latitude of Philadelphia. The Massachusetts Bay Colony's charter described the southern border as a line due west from a point "three English miles to the southward of the southernmost part of the of the said Bay called Massachusetts."

Massachusetts argued for a line due west from a point 3 miles south of the town of Plymouth. Connecticut opted for a line due west from a point 3 miles to the south of the southernmost reach of the Charles River.

Ultimately, Massachusetts accepted Connecticut's approach but not the river, since the Charles is not the southernmost waterway leading into Massachusetts Bay. The Bay's southernmost tributary is the Neponset River. Hence, Connecticut's northern border is formed by a line due west from a point 3 miles south of the southernmost point of the Neponset River.

This negotiation was prolonged by the fact that the towns of Enfield, Somers, Suffield and Woodstock, which existed well before Connecticut, were located in the disputed zone.

Finally, in 1804, the two sides areed that as compensation in Massachusetts for losing these towns, Connecticut would partition Congamond Lakes farther west. This is why there is a notch in the northern border of Connecticut.