We genealogists learned long ago that the early Colonial Americans sometimes measured land by chains...... can you imagine hauling and stringing out heavy chains up and down the Appalachian Mountains?
Well, that's why a 16-mile stretch of the boundary between what is now West Virginia and Virginia was never properly surveyed. Lying atop the crest of the Blue Ridge, it was just too rugged a terrain to measure and besides, "everybody knew where it was."
Thanks to an article in a 1997 National Geographic magazine, I learned that this particular stretch was at long last and finally surveyed in 1996.
Why did this finally matter so much? "People were moving into the area, sending their children to school, and expecting fire and police protection from "their" state," so which one was it???
Bet you thought you knew that answer, right? :-)
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