- Joined
- Oct 26, 2020
- Messages
- 1,764
- Location
- Makefield Highlands PA
- Bike
- 2016 ST1300P
- 2024 Miles
- 002771
Being a bit of a history buff, and a planned rider, I set myself on a tour of William Penn and the Mason Dixon Line. Although not all encompassing, it hits some highlights and gives me a good jumping off point for next time.
For those of you unfamiliar with our characters, I point you to Wikipedia.
Mr Penn was a Quaker in a time of no tolerance in England for religion. He was from a prominent family and was given a bit of leeway. The Quakers raised some money and bought West Jersey and then did it again with East Jersey. Penn, wanting a Quaker utopia, petitioned the King for a land grant, he obliged. Penn became the largest non monarch land owner in the world with this grant.
I am unaware of any landings by him in NJ, I will look. Chester, PA is where our journey will start. It is apparently the first place he landed
If history is telling a different story, it would start here, New Castle DE, having been taken by the Duke of York as a spoil of war. Penn Stopped here for 2 days before going to Penn's Grant, soon to be named Pennsylvania.
Mr Penn is known for his good character and ethics, the longest adhered to treaty in the "New World" was facilitated by Penn. Here, at Penn Treaty Park, the original tree is gone, but there are siblings around. The fenced section on the right is where it all began as he negotiated with the local Tribe.
One day Penn heard that Philadelphia was the nicest city in Maryland... this was a problem. As it were, Cecil Calvert was given a grant that overlapped what Penn was granted later, so an 80 year dispute started. To resolve this, Delaware was sectioned off with the Transpeninsular Line running South to North and intersecting with a 12 mile circle around New Castle, DE. The chosen spot to start the circle was the Courthouse.
However, inaccurate maps of the time still had the dispute unresolved. Call in the now famous Mason and Dixon. The negotiations settled on the boundary being 15 miles South of the southern most house in Philadelphia. Back then it was here, on what was then called Cedar St, now South St, and a walkway over the highway to the river.
In order to properly mark the boundary, Mason and Dixon moved 5 degrees west as to avoid crossing the Delaware river multiple times. They settle on a spot out side of what is now Chester Country and set up a mark to view the stars and start plotting the boundary.
Unfortunately, on this trip I was unable to locate the corner of PA,MD,DE due to misunderstanding on my part, looks like I have to walk into it from a park, not the road, I was about 100 yards away... Mason and Dixon marked the corner, every mile, and every 5 miles. I did find mile marker 1. I will find others on subsequent journeys. Thanks for coming along.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
PS the complete boundaries of the three states wasn't resolved until 1921... the wedge was still contested.
For those of you unfamiliar with our characters, I point you to Wikipedia.
Mr Penn was a Quaker in a time of no tolerance in England for religion. He was from a prominent family and was given a bit of leeway. The Quakers raised some money and bought West Jersey and then did it again with East Jersey. Penn, wanting a Quaker utopia, petitioned the King for a land grant, he obliged. Penn became the largest non monarch land owner in the world with this grant.
I am unaware of any landings by him in NJ, I will look. Chester, PA is where our journey will start. It is apparently the first place he landed
If history is telling a different story, it would start here, New Castle DE, having been taken by the Duke of York as a spoil of war. Penn Stopped here for 2 days before going to Penn's Grant, soon to be named Pennsylvania.
Mr Penn is known for his good character and ethics, the longest adhered to treaty in the "New World" was facilitated by Penn. Here, at Penn Treaty Park, the original tree is gone, but there are siblings around. The fenced section on the right is where it all began as he negotiated with the local Tribe.
One day Penn heard that Philadelphia was the nicest city in Maryland... this was a problem. As it were, Cecil Calvert was given a grant that overlapped what Penn was granted later, so an 80 year dispute started. To resolve this, Delaware was sectioned off with the Transpeninsular Line running South to North and intersecting with a 12 mile circle around New Castle, DE. The chosen spot to start the circle was the Courthouse.
However, inaccurate maps of the time still had the dispute unresolved. Call in the now famous Mason and Dixon. The negotiations settled on the boundary being 15 miles South of the southern most house in Philadelphia. Back then it was here, on what was then called Cedar St, now South St, and a walkway over the highway to the river.
In order to properly mark the boundary, Mason and Dixon moved 5 degrees west as to avoid crossing the Delaware river multiple times. They settle on a spot out side of what is now Chester Country and set up a mark to view the stars and start plotting the boundary.
Unfortunately, on this trip I was unable to locate the corner of PA,MD,DE due to misunderstanding on my part, looks like I have to walk into it from a park, not the road, I was about 100 yards away... Mason and Dixon marked the corner, every mile, and every 5 miles. I did find mile marker 1. I will find others on subsequent journeys. Thanks for coming along.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
PS the complete boundaries of the three states wasn't resolved until 1921... the wedge was still contested.
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