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TN HISTORY FEB 11_TECA_0211_ 1/19/11 7:56 PM Page 7 HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the Tennessee History Guy Due to human error, various compromises and unreliable surveying equipment, Tennessee's northern boundary greatly shifts in places. Map extracted from Henry Schenck Tanner's 1834 map of the United States. Tennessee-Kentucky border didn’t turn out as straight as it was supposed to be couple of months ago, I wrote a column about the bor- It turns out that there are people who have researched this Ader between Tennessee and Georgia. I pointed out that, topic. James Sames, now deceased, once wrote a book on the by decree, the boundary was supposed to be at 35 degrees subject called “Four Steps West.” About 20 years ago, the north latitude. However, because of the human error inherent Tennessee Association of Professional Surveyors and Ken- with surveying equipment used in the early 19th century, the tucky Association of Professional Surveyors reproduced his boundary is south of that latitude by about one mile. This has book and did extensive research on the topic, photographing annoyed public officials of the state of Georgia over the years stone markers that were placed along the boundary in 1859. because the mistake has prevented the Peach State from And an Internet search on the subject yielded lots of informa- being able to draw water from the Tennessee River. tion, some of which I actually suspect to be true (not always At the time I hinted that the Georgia-Tennessee border was the case with Internet searches). actually accurate compared to the Tennessee-Kentucky bor- To summarize what I’ve discovered: Tennessee’s border der. Let me amplify on that. with Kentucky and Virginia is, for the eastern two-thirds of The Tennessee-Kentucky border is not straight. It shifts up the Volunteer State, nowhere near where government decree and down multiple times on its long journey from the said it was supposed to be. The main reasons for this are Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River. Most human error and imperfect surveying equipment. Along the notably, in the area of the Land way, the placement of the bound- Between the Lakes, the border ary was also influenced by dis- jumps north by a couple of miles agreements among surveyors, and then, where the Tennessee compromise between arguing River moves into Kentucky, shifts states and countless other rea- south about 12 miles — creating sons. In total, the mislocated bor- what some refer to as Tennessee’s der cost Kentucky about 2,500 “chimney.” The boundary then square miles, according to proceeds in a nearly perfectly Sames’ book. straight line all the way to the As for the Tennessee-Ken- Mississippi River. tucky border in West Tennessee, I’m sure that a lot of people it is almost a perfect straight line have wondered, like me, why the Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia border jumps up and down the meet at this spot near the Cum- way it does. berland Gap. February 2011 7 TN HISTORY FEB 11_TECA_0211_ 1/19/11 7:57 PM Page 8 HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the Tennessee History Guy and is located almost exactly where it is supposed to be. Here are some details: In Colonial times, the King of Eng- land decreed that the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina be located at 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. After Kentucky broke away from Virginia and Tennessee broke away from North Carolina, this boundary line was continued west all the way to the Mississippi River. The official border was laid out by different people and in different eras, using celestial navigation readings to determine location on the Earth’s sur- face and magnetic compass headings to draw the line between places where celestial shots were made. Generally, these early surveyors left marks in trees to show where they left the boundary line, which often left sur- veyors of future generations in confu- sion as to which marks were left by official surveyors and which were left by someone trying to trick them. In 1728, a team led by William Byrd started surveying the line Part of the Tennessee-Kentucky border in Robertson County dips drastically to the between North Carolina and Virginia, south. The so-called “Simpson County Offset” was inaccurately drawn because the sur- starting at the Atlantic Ocean. Byrd, in veying group couldn’t obtain astronomical observations due to dense cloud cover and a detailed journal he kept of the ven- iron ore interference with compass readings. ture, explained that the team took most of the spring and sum- As it turned out, all three of these surveying generations mis- mer of that year off because of an overabundance of rat- takenly placed the boundary north by a distance of somewhere tlesnakes along the way. This original surveying party made it in the range of five miles to 12 miles. So, instead of the Ken- 241 miles to about two-thirds of the way across present-day tucky-Virginia and Tennessee-North Carolina borders being at North Carolina. 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, the line is actually closer Twenty-one years later, a group of surveyors led by Joshua to 36 degrees 35 minutes north latitude in East Tennessee and as Fry and Peter Jefferson started where Byrd left off and made it far north as 36 degrees 41 minutes north latitude at Land to about 10 miles east of present-day Bristol. Jefferson, by the Between the Lakes — as much as 18 miles off! It is easy for us way, was the father of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of to be smug about these inaccuracies in an era in which some us the United States. carry handheld satellite navigation devices, but if you think it is In 1779, two teams of surveyors picked up about where Fry easy to calculate your exact location on the planet using a hand- and Jefferson had left off and drew the line all the way to held sextant and magnetic compass, you try it. where the Tennessee River flows north into Kentucky. This When the 1779 surveyors picked up the line left by the Jef- group consisted of Thomas Walker and Daniel Smith repre- ferson/Fry party, the two groups of surveyors argued about senting Virginia and Richard Henderson and William Bailey where the line should be. The Walker/Smith party, represent- Smith representing North Carolina. (Daniel Smith, by the way, ing Virginia, believed that the line was at least two miles later built the Rock Castle historic home in present-day Sumn- north of where it was supposed to be (in fact, it was a lot far- er County, Tenn., while Richard Henderson is the land specu- ther than that). This disagreement is the reason that, today, lator who sent the first settlers to present-day Nashville.) the border “shifts” about 10 miles east of present-day Bristol. 8 The Tennessee Magazine TN HISTORY FEB 11_TECA_0211_ 1/19/11 7:57 PM Page 9 HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the Tennessee History Guy And for years this caused property disputes all along the Ten- “I’ve always heard that it was called ‘dueling ground’ nessee-Kentucky border and the creation of one “border” because it was a no-man’s land between the two states where known as the Henderson line and another known as the Walk- people could go to duel and avoid laws against it,” says my er line. friend Robert Brandt, author of the fascinating “Compass When I recently visited the Cumberland Gap, I found the American Guides Tennessee.” place where the borders of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia This is an interesting bit of local legend, but it doesn’t meet. I made the assumption that the border explain the origins of the offset. As it turns between those states was put near the gap out, the so-called “Simpson County Offset” on purpose. In fact, the border between Ten- As it turns out, was caused by human error. When Walker nessee and Kentucky coincides with the and Smith surveyed this part of the state in location of the actual Cumberland Gap by all three of these December 1779 and January 1780, they coincidence — it just so happens to be right surveying gener- were able to do almost no astronomical about where the surveying party believed observations in this part of the state due to the parallel at 36 degrees 30 minutes north ations mistaken- cloudy weather. Also, Walker later noted, latitude to be. (The Cumberland Gap is, in “There was some iron ore in that vicinity, fact, located at about 36 degrees 36 minutes ly placed the which deflected the needle of the compass.” north latitude). boundary north By 1830, it became obvious that the line In 1817, the Chickasaw Indians “sold” was in the wrong place, which is why sur- their rights to the land between the Ten- by a distance of veyors were sent to the area to redraw the nessee and Mississippi rivers, and that land line. Those surveyors determined about became what we now refer to as West Ten- somewhere in where the boundary line was supposed to be nessee. By this time it had become obvious the range of five but wisely recommended in their report that to everyone that Tennessee’s border with the official border be left where it was. “Let both Kentucky and Virginia was north of miles to 12 miles. Tennessee yield to Kentucky her claim to where it was supposed to be. During the next the triangular territory and let Kentucky couple of years, Tennessee and Kentucky argued over where yield to Tennessee her claim on the triangular territory in dis- the boundary should be drawn in the newly acquired area.

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