How did the first state end up with the last interstate land dispute in the United States, and did you know you can easily hike to this piece of 150+ year old history?
Photo from internet search found at https://www.howderfamily.com/blog/delaware-trifecta/.
The Trail Itself
We all know trails are good for seeing nature, but other than Urban Trails like Boston’s Freedom Trail, there aren’t too many trails where you can see the end product of an almost 100 year land dispute between Lord Calvert of Maryland and William Penn of Pennsylvania, settled in 1767.
Given the proximity to local subdivisions and that a number of houses can be seen from the trail, we would classify this as a suburban trail. However, it is very close to a day hike as well.
Located in the White Clay Creek Trail system, you can reach this trail from several starting points.
Photo as screen shot from AllTrails – https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/pennsylvania/tri-state-trail-to-twin-valley-trail-loop?mobileMap=false&ref=sidebar-static-map
We started at the designated trail head parking lot at the end of Arc Corner Road in Pennsylvania.
Since it was warm for a winter day there were a couple of other cars, but the lot was far from full. While the trees aren’t marked on this trail (smaller trails tend to follow that pattern), there are standing markers that indicate trail directions, and locations. Plus the trail itself is obvious the entire way.
It’s only around 3.5 miles in total and even taking a lot of pictures, we spent barely over 2 hours hiking the trail. Now if you want to stop more than we did to enjoy the scenery and history, this is a great trail for that. Surprisingly, there are even benches placed along the trail (usually trails of this type don’t have benches). The benches are in some pretty sweet locations with great views. Very relaxing for us since we went on a nice day in the middle of winter and there weren’t too many people on the trail.
The hike itself is rated fairly easy, not too much elevation change and pretty stable. There were a couple of areas where we experienced a little mud, but still easy to traverse.
Like most trails, the Tri-State Trail Loop is well maintained, but maintained minimally, enough for the hiker, but leaving nature virtually undisturbed (note the felled trees).
Roughly a mile from the trailhead, as you cross a bridge you’ll see the Mason-Dixon Line monument to the right. The monument is an unassuming piece of concrete with letters on it, designating the state you would be standing in at the time of its placement.
From there, it was slightly more than three quarters of a mile to walk to the Arc Corner Monument. The trail traverses through more small hills, using bridges to go over the small streams. Once we crossed Hopkins Bridge Road, the monument was right in front of us.
The Arc Corner Monument was established to demarcate the eastern boundary of the Mason-Dixon Line extension where it intersects the 12 Mile Circle arc (see below for the history). There’s even a little inscribed linework on the top to show the state lines.
At the Arc Corner Monument, there is a bridge being built to better connect the Tri-State Trail Loop to the Twin Valley Trail. In a little over a quarter of a mile, you will find yourself connecting to the Creek Road Trail, which is excellent for both off road biking and hiking.
Closing the loop, we backtracked slightly over Hopkins Bridge Road, then headed almost due north back to the trailhead, which is less than half a mile from the Arc Corner Monument.
The History
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed their now famously known Mason-Dixon Line to settle the land dispute between Lord Calvert of Maryland and William Penn of Pennsylvania. When the Mason-Dixon Line was finally agreed upon in 1767, the newly established boundaries left a small area of land (roughly 684 acres) in question, now known as the “Wedge” and the “Delaware Wedge“.
Photo from https://history.delaware.gov/2023/01/11/delaware-wedge/
The Wedge was the land east of the longitudinal part of the Mason-Dixon Line, west of the Twelve Mile Circle from the center of New Castle, Delaware, and south of the upper latitudinal Mason-Dixon Line, as extended from its intersection with the longitudinal line till it intersected the arc.
Interestingly, the Mason & Dixon corner marker itself depicts only “M” for Maryland on the west and south sides of the marker, and a “P” for Pennsylvania on the north and east sides of the marker. “D” or Delaware is not on the marker, assumedly because the border was more specific to Maryland and Pennsylvania. And as William Penn controlled both Pennsylvania and Delaware, the wedge of land wasn’t under “dispute”.
Maryland only claimed the land south and west of the Mason-Dixon Line, so everyone pretty much recognized they didn’t have a claim to the wedge.
With Delaware initially recognizing the land east of the line and inside the 12-mile arc, and Pennsylvania not officially claiming it, the wedge initially became sort of a “no man’s land”. No state officially claimed it, and once states became interested, it began to waffle between Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Their ultimate claims:
- Pennsylvania recognized the land above the longitudinal line, but technically the wedge was not specifically surveyed out of Pennsylvania.
- Delaware ultimately claimed that it was never intended for Pennsylvania to have any land below the latitudinal line of the Mason Dixon survey and the line should have been extended to meet up with the 12-mile arc, therefore wedge should belong to them.
John Duncan Graham of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers resurveyed the Mason-Dixon Line in 1849-1850 showing the wedge, the arc, and other surrounding boundary line features.
Photo from New York Public Library Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/pin/562316703444133622/
In 1921, the states agreed and Congress ratified that the wedge would become part of Delaware.
Delaware’s border resulting from the wedge has some interesting distinctions:
- The last interstate border in the continental U.S. that was resolved (Michigan had the last international border resolution in 1925).
- The longest non fixed border in the country. The wedge technically took longer to resolve than the Mason-Dixon boundary, but it wasn’t in dispute as long.
- The only state border whose boundary includes an arc.
The Wrap Up
It’s not often hikers get the opportunity to experience US history to such a depth out on a nature hike, particularly a suburban trail hike, much less walk in three states at the same time. This was a short fun hike that provides both hiking, nature and history.
Trifecta.