The North Carolina–Tennessee–Virginia Corners is a

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

at which

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

meet. The landmark is located in the

Iron Mountains The Iron Mountains are a 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 Mountains ab ...

, and is roughly north of Snake Mountain, and 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 m ...

(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 Whitetop Mountain is the second highest independ ...

, which is about 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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

decision ''

Virginia v. Tennessee ''Virginia v. Tennessee'', 148 U.S. 503 (1893), was a suit brought before the Supreme Court of the United States that sought to settle two questions: * What is the correct boundary between the two states and, if the boundary was inaccurately se ...

'', 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 was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

and the

Province of Carolina The Province of Carolina was a colony of the Kingdom of England (1663–1707) and later the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until the Carolinas were partitioned into North and Sou ...

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 King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

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 River, Chowan and Roanoke River, Roanoke. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean b ...

, which caused the boundary to follow the

36th parallel north Following are circles of latitude between the 35th parallel north and the 40th parallel north: 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, th ...

, 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 (Wiktionary:circa, ca. 16 February 1683 - 11 July 1749), was a British colonial official who served as the first North Carolina State Treasurer, public treasurer of North Carolina from 1715 until his death in July 1749). He previ ...

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 wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

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 and writer. Born in the English colony of Virginia, Byrd was educated in London, where he practiced law. Upon his father's death, Byrd returned to Virginia ...

, showed the line starting at the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and traversing inland to the

Dan River Dan River may refer to: * Dan River (Virginia) * Dan River (China) * Dan River (Middle East) Other * Little Dan River * Browns Dan River * Dan Hole River See also * Dan (disambiguation) Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), inc ...

(known as the Fitzwilliam River in the

Province of North Carolina The Province of North Carolina, originally known as the Albemarle Settlements, was a proprietary colony and later royal colony of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776.(p. 80) It was one of the five Southern col ...

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

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The city is located in the Southside (Virginia), Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River ( ...

. 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 Peters may refer to: People * Peters (surname) * Peters Band, a First Nations band in British Columbia, Canada Places United States * Peters, California, a census-designated place * Peters, Florida, a town * Peters Township, Kingman County, Ka ...

, about 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", cre ...

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 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 The Great Wagon Road, also known as the Philadelphia Wagon Road, is a historic trail in the eastern United States that was first traveled by indigenous tribes, and later explorers, settlers, soldiers, and travelers. It extended from British Penn ...

, 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 in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

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