All around parts of the Mason-Dixon Line, communities are observing the start of the 250th anniversary of the beginning of one of America’s most famous boundaries. The work by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, establishing the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, took five years, from 1763 to 1768. To settle royal land grants for the proprietors of the adjacent colonies, the skilled English surveyor-mathematicians measured out the boundary that had involved bitter quarreling and bloodshed.
To mark this special anniversary, places along the Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware boundaries have been conducting programs as there has been growing interest in the line’s history. As a result, I have done a couple of media interviews on the subject for Fox 45 Baltimore, and WYPR, a Maryland public radio station.
