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been fully explored and the actual borders of the colony were uncertain. It turned out that the southernmost bend of the
Charles is south of the southern curve of Massachusetts Bay. The line of latitude three miles south of the river's southernmost bend, approximately 42°2′ north, forms the basis of the southern border of Massachusetts to the present day. The Merrimack River turned out to originate farther north than expected, flowing south for most of its course and only turning eastward in its last several miles. Thus the 1629 grant gave the colony most of what is today New Hampshire and all of the original 1629 grant that formed the basis of colonial New Hampshire, but it took many decades before this was fully understood.
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or 3 miles south of the southernmost bend of the
Charles River, whichever was farther south. The northern border was to be 3 miles north of the northernmost bend of the Merrimack River. Between these lines of latitude the grant extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In 1629 the rivers had not
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between
Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The Old Boundary Pine was located 57.8 miles (93.0 km) east of this point. The "curved" segments roughly following the course of the Merrimack at a distance 3 miles north of it are not true curves, but rather a series of line segments
184:). The line actually runs slightly northwest to southeast, so it follows no line of latitude. This gave New Hampshire even more than it had claimed, as Pawtucket Falls was south of the mouth of the Merrimack. At this time, the present northern boundary of Massachusetts was established.
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had disagreements over their mutual boundaries. With respect to the southern boundary of New
Hampshire, the two provinces disagreed on the meaning of "three miles northward of the Merrimack River, or any part thereof". New Hampshire drew a line from three miles north of the
222:) is today marked by a granite monument known as the Boundary Pine Monument, the current form of which was placed in 1890. Elsewhere, the boundary are made by 50 large granite markers, along with several other markers, including a copper bolt set in granite at the
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on the west bank of the
Connecticut River to be the border, but the territory between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain – which had been sold off by New Hampshire – declared independence in 1777 as the
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The location where these two surveyed lines met (the straight westward line and the curved line following the
Merrimack River) was marked by a pine tree called the "Old Boundary Pine". The tree was
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The official coordinates may not reflect the actual position of the marker, which is located on private property in the field of a farm off of Marsh Road in Dracut.
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by George
Mitchell, one of the surveyors, on March 21, 1741 to indicate the location where the lines met. The pine tree is long gone, but the point (officially at
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Boundaries, Areas, Geographic
Centers and Altitudes of the United States and the Several States: With a Brief Record of Important Changes in Their Territory
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of the river, while
Massachusetts claimed a line three miles north of the northernmost part of the river, taking its territory far north past what is now
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at 80 feet from the high tide line, marking the end of the surveyed border, with the border taken to extend into the
Atlantic Ocean to the "
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approximating the curved course of the river. Another granite marker, also placed in 1890, stands on the beach between
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New Hampshire claimed all the land west to roughly the present western boundary of
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A map showing the rival claims of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire
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American Boundaries: the Nation, the States, the Rectangular Survey
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Boundary between Massachusetts and the states to its north
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Boundaries of the United States and the Several States
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Boundaries of the United States and the Several States
479:Internal territorial disputes of the United States
445:Fritz Wetherbee: The Old Boundary Pine of Pelham
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128:in 1691, which merged the Colony with the
341:. University of Chicago Press. pp.
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108:gave the colony the land between the
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416:Douglas, Edward Morehouse (1923).
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422:. U.S. Government Printing Office
178:western boundary of Massachusetts
124:A new charter was granted to the
377:United States Geological Survey
366:Van Zandt, Franklin K. (1966).
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157:Province of Massachusetts Bay
126:Province of Massachusetts Bay
168:. New Hampshire appealed to
237:limit of State jurisdiction
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333:Hubbard, Bill Jr. (2009).
323:, USGS Bulletin 1212, 1966
38:adjoins two other states:
405:– via blogspot.com.
210:42.6972917°N 71.3227833°W
153:Province of New Hampshire
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29:northern boundary of the
23:1894 map of Massachusetts
469:Borders of New Hampshire
464:Borders of Massachusetts
395:double-d Mountain Runner
229:Salisbury, Massachusetts
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106:Massachusetts Bay Colony
104:The 1629 charter of the
65:42.745750°N 73.2650361°W
252:ordinary low-water line
233:Seabrook, New Hampshire
215:42.6972917; -71.3227833
319:Franklin K. VanZandt,
261:admission to the Union
166:Concord, New Hampshire
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130:Colony of New Plymouth
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182:Province of New York
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474:Borders of Vermont
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352:978-0-226-35591-7
280:Explanatory notes
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53:42°44′44.7″N
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458:Categories
426:4 November
300:References
31:U.S. state
267:See also
224:tripoint
449:WMUR-TV
244:Vermont
100:History
40:Vermont
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189:marked
86:Lowell
82:Dracut
373:(PDF)
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134:Maine
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428:2015
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347:ISBN
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