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The History Behind The Deakins Line

OZinOH / Flickr / Creative Commons

You’ve heard of the Mason-Dixon line, which separates Maryland and Pennsylvania. But what about the Deakins line, which runs roughly north-south between Maryland and West Virginia? It’s the center of a dispute between the two states that lasted for decades, until it was eventually decided by the Supreme Court in 1910.

The source of the dispute begins with a river and a stone. Don Teter, a West Virginia land surveyor and historian, joins Sheilah by phone to chart the story. 

Learn more about a border dispute between property owners in Maryland and Virginia that a Maryland court ruled on earlier this week. An audio project called "Traveling 219" put together a story about the Fairfax Stone. You can find that here. And, Don Teter went in search of the Potomac Stone, which marks what Maryland argued is the headwaters of the Potomac. You can read more about it here.

 

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.