Drawing the line

by chuckofish

mason-dixon-line

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed surveying for the “Mason-Dixon line” separating Maryland and Pennsylvania on this day in 1767.  The work was done between 1763 and 1767 in order to resolve a border dispute involving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

In popular usage, the Mason–Dixon line still symbolizes a cultural boundary between the North and the South.

Reading about this, it suddenly occurred to me that the name “Dixie” (used as a historical nickname for the southern states) must derive from Jeremiah Dixon’s name!

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Mind-blowing that I just thought of that. Did you know that?

Anyway, here’s a great song by Mark Knopfler (with James Taylor) about Mason and Dixon, which was itself inspired by the book Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon.

P.S. I read that book back in the 1990s and liked it.