The North Carolina–Tennessee–Virginia Corners is a

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

at which

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

meet. The landmark is located in the

Iron Mountains The Iron Mountains are a mountain range, subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These mountains are located around the common meeting point of Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. A portion of the Appalachian Trail runs the crest of the Iron ...

, and is roughly 16 miles north of Snake Mountain, and 8 miles southwest of

Mount Rogers Mount Rogers is the highest natural point in Virginia, United States, with a summit elevation of above mean sea level. The summit straddles the border of Grayson and Smyth Counties, Virginia, about WSW of Troutdale, Virginia. Most of the moun ...

(the highest mountain in Virginia). The nearest town is

Whitetop, Virginia Whitetop is an unincorporated community in Grayson County, Virginia, United States. It is the southern terminus of the Virginia Creeper Trail. Whitetop is named for nearby Whitetop Mountain, the second-tallest independent mountain in the State of V ...

, which is about four miles northeast of the corner. The marker can be accessed by a hiking trail.

History

The location of the tripoint is the result of inadequate survey equipment used during the 18th century. The debates over the location of the tripoint and the boundaries between Virginia and Tennessee drew tension and led to the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

decision '' Virginia v. Tennessee'', which led to the modern borders and established the 1802 tripoint in 1893. The first attempt at establishing a tripoint began in 1665, when the borders of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

and the

Province of Carolina Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alaba ...

were defined. That year,

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

modified the charter of Carolina to grant the colony control over the entire

Albemarle Sound Albemarle Sound () is a large estuary on the coast of North Carolina in the United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers, including the Chowan and Roanoke. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Currituck Banks, a ba ...

, which caused the boundary to follow the

36th parallel north The 36th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 36 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean. In the ancient Mediterranean wo ...

, 34 miles north of the original boundary. In practice, the idea was that the boundary would follow through when the state of Tennessee was established. It was only in 1710 when surveyors began defining the boundary so that land could be purchased and sold for tax revenues. The attempted survey ended with a land dispute since

Edward Moseley Edward Moseley (ca. 16 February 1682 - 11 July 1749), was a British colonial official who served as the first public treasurer of North Carolina from 1715 until his death in July 1749). He previously served as the surveyor-general of North Car ...

of Carolina accused the Virginian surveyors of using inaccurate surveying equipment, and the surveyors believed that Mosely had a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

in lands speculated along the border. A second attempt to survey the land came in 1728, which was jointly surveyed by both Virginia and North Carolina. The new line, documented by

William Byrd II William Byrd II (March 28, 1674August 26, 1744) was an American planter, lawyer, surveyor, author, and a man of letters. Born in Colonial Virginia, he was educated in London, where he practiced law. Upon his father's death, he returned to Virgi ...

, showed the line starting at the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and traversing inland to the

Dan River The Dan River flows in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. It rises in Patrick County, Virginia, and crosses the state border into Stokes County, North Carolina. It then flows into Rockingham County. From there it flows back int ...

(known as the Fitzwilliam River in the

Province of North Carolina Province of North Carolina was a province of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712(p. 80) to 1776. It was one of the five Southern Colonies, Southern colonies and one of the Thirteen Colonies, thir ...

). The 1728 line terminated its surveying line near what is now

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

. The surveying team from Virginia believed that colonial settlement would continue to expand westward, the William Byrd II team surveyed the line all the way to Peters Creek, Virginia, about 40 miles west. The North Carolinian team terminated its survey sooner since it believed that additional surveying would cause a rush for westward expansion. In 1749, a Virginian team, consisting of

Peter Jefferson Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708 – August 17, 1757) was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The "Fry-Jefferson Map", creat ...

and

Joshua Fry Colonel Joshua Fry (1699–1754) was an English-born American adventurer who became a professor, then real estate investor and local official in the colony of Virginia. Although he served several terms in the House of Burgesses, he may be best kn ...

, surveyed an additional 90 miles west of the Peters Creek point. The survey was claimed to be vastly inaccurate, a claim later proven to be true, since Jefferson and Fry drifted nearly five miles north of the parallel by failing to account for variation in

magnetic north The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed t ...

. The survey was then known as the Fry-Jefferson line of 1751. Jefferson was later remembered for surveying the

Great Wagon Road Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

, which became a precedent for travel in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

to Virginia. The revised ending point of the Fry-Jefferson Line became the site of Steep Rock Creek now Beaverdam Creek near where the modern tripoint of the three states is located. Steep Rock is often mistaken for modern Laurel Creek rather than Beaverdam Creek. Mitchell's map of 1771 and the Fry-Jefferson map clearly show present Laurel Creek as Tooley's River. The Fry- Jefferson survey line crossed the location of State Line Cemetery 1820, Fodderstack Mountain and then Iron Mountain to terminate just south of Backbone Rock on a small island, surely Backbone Rock is the "steep" rock. Backbone Rock now lies in the VA-TN state line offset. Also, Laurel Creek had been named by the time Daniel Smith arrived in 1779. Smith's journal states on 8\18\1779 "Went to John Keys on the Laurel Fork the nearest house to our place of the beginning". The line differs from the modern Tennessee–Virginia line due to the compromise of ''Virginia v. Tennessee'' 1893, as different state-sponsored surveyors used different equipment to stake land claims for their states.

References

External links

VA-TN-NC border
{{DEFAULTSORT:North Carolina Tennessee Virginia Corners Borders of North Carolina Borders of Tennessee Borders of Virginia Buildings and structures in Ashe County, North Carolina Buildings and structures in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Grayson County, Virginia Border tripoints Buildings and structures completed in 1903 East Tennessee Iron Mountains Monuments and memorials in North Carolina Monuments and memorials in Tennessee Monuments and memorials in Virginia Southwest Virginia Western North Carolina Tourist attractions in Ashe County, North Carolina Tourist attractions in Johnson County, Tennessee Tourist attractions in Grayson County, Virginia 1802 establishments in North Carolina 1802 establishments in Tennessee 1802 establishments in Virginia

History

See also

References

External links