NJ-NY-PA Tri-States Monument - looking north

The New York–Pennsylvania border is the state line between the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

s of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

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, ...

. It has three sections: * Along the center line of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

from the

Tri-States Monument The Tri-States Monument (also known as Tri-State Rock) is a granite monument that marks the tripoint of the state boundaries of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. It is at the northwestern end of the boundary between New Jersey and New York, ...

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 ...

with

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

at the confluence of the Delaware with the

Neversink River The Neversink River (also called Neversink Creek in its upper course) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in southeastern ...

Port Jervis, New York Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

to the

42nd parallel north The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. At this latitude the sun is v ...

between

Hancock, New York Hancock is a town in Delaware County, New York, United States. The town contains a village, also named Hancock. The town is in the southwest part of the county. The population was 3,224 at the 2010 census. The town is the largest by area in Del ...

and Deposit, New York about 2.8 km downstream from Hale Eddy; above

Hancock Hancock may refer to: Places in the United States * Hancock, Iowa * Hancock, Maine * Hancock, Maryland * Hancock, Massachusetts * Hancock, Michigan * Hancock, Minnesota * Hancock, Missouri * Hancock, New Hampshire ** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...

this is the West branch of the Delaware; * Across the

to the corner of the

Erie Triangle The Erie Triangle is a roughly 300-square-mile (780-square-kilometre) tract of American land that was the subject of several competing colonial-era claims. It was eventually acquired by the U.S. federal government and sold to Pennsylvania so that ...

; * North along the east boundary of the Erie Triangle to

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

. The survey of the

was carried out in 1785–86 and accepted by the two states in 1787. The surveying technique that was used at the time was not especially accurate, and as such, this boundary wanders a bit on both sides of the true parallel. The 82nd mile stone was used as the starting point of the

Preemption Line The Preemption Line (also spelled Pre-Emption) divided the aboriginal lands of western New York State awarded to New York from those awarded to Commonwealth of Massachusetts by the Treaty of Hartford of 1786. It was defined as the meridian (north ...

defined in the Treaty of Hartford in 1786 to separate

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

land claims in

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...

The survey of the Erie Triangle boundary in 1789 was by the top surveyor in the United States of the time, Andrew Ellicott. The starting point of the

line is in the

at the northeast corner of

Wayne County, Pennsylvania Wayne is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The county's population was 51,155 at the 2020 census. The county seat is the Borough of Honesdale. The county was formed from part of Northampto ...

at 41°59′57″ N, 75°21′35″ W

WGS 84 The World Geodetic System (WGS) is a standard used in cartography, geodesy, and satellite navigation including GPS. The current version, WGS 84, defines an Earth-centered, Earth-fixed coordinate system and a geodetic datum, and also descri ...

. The initial surveyor's monument is just west of Faulkner Road at 41°59′58″ N, 75°21′43″ W. The corner point of the Erie Triangle in modern coordinates is 41°59′55″ N, 79°45′43″ W. The distance along the east–west line is approximately . The counties that surround the east–west line are known collectively as the

Twin Tiers The Twin Tiers are the collective counties that lie on the New York-Pennsylvania border on either side of the 42nd parallel north. The region is predominantly rural and contains many small towns. Separately, the two halves of the Twin Tiers regi ...

References

External links

Map of the initial monument
{{DEFAULTSORT:New York-Pennsylvania border Pennsylvania border Borders of Pennsylvania

See also

References

External links