In this Lost Massachusetts Episode we take a zig-zag drive through the Mass/Conn border examining the odd crossings between Southwick, Mass & Granby, Conn; Longmeadow, Mass & Enfield, Conn; and a 12-second crossing in the Douglas State Forest. There are also waterfront properties where the house is in one state but the beach is in another.

Take a good look at the Mass/Connecticut border, it's not a straight line, not even close. From New York the mass border slopes north, then south, then drops into Connecticut for miles in places, slopes north again, then south again and then finally straight down where it meets the Rhode Island border.

A bad survey line established in 1642 marked a disputed state line that placed a dozen or more Connecticut towns within Massachusetts. It would take almost two hundred years to settle this dispute. Why was the line so inaccurate? Because the people who did it conducted their measurements from a ship instead of on the land. They took measurements from the ocean and the Connecticut River which were not much better than guesses.

Connecticut did not even have its own royal charter 1662, it was a mishmash of adjacent colonies centered around New Haven and Saybrook that did not combine until later. This was the period of history where the Netherlands was loosing control to England, including the Dutch possessions in New England.

When they received their charter, Connecticut put its version of the state line well above the 1642 line, but this remained an issue of dispute and confusion between the two states. More settlers moved into the towns not always clear on where they lived.

Connecticut conducted a new line survey in 1695 which massachusetts ignored.

Mass did not like the results from another survey conducted in 1702 either. in 1713 the two colonies simply agreed to divide up the towns in the disputed area, but the towns impacted by the change did not like being tossed around so another survey was chartered. Strangely, the new border agreed to by massachusetts put several towns that were clearly settled by massachusetts in Connecticut. These towns were shifted back to massachusetts which made the various jogs we see on the map. If you think this ended the issue it did not since some settlers in massachusetts wanted to be part of connecticut because the taxes were lower. Imagine that. So the border shifted again for some people. In 1797 part of the border was adjusted because a river used as a marker had...moved. After the revolution the issue was revisited in 1801 but was not redrawn until 1826 and agreed on until 1840. All of this confusion was compounded by the fact that many stone markers, while intended to show the actuate borders were in the wrong place. It was also found that some settlers have moved marker stones to expand their own farms. These discrepancies were not fixed until 1941. The issues did not end there as new technology in the early 2000s made more accurate measurements and these results showed many border lines to be invalid. Believe it or not, Connecticut's eastern border with Rhode Island is still in dispute.

These are the towns above the 1642 survey line: Thompson, Woodstock, Union, Stafford, Somers, Enfield, Suffield, Granby, Windsor Locks, Hartland, Barkhamsted, Winchester, Colebrook, Norfolk, Canaan, Salsbury, Millerton NY.

The towns specifically settled and claimed by Massachusetts: Woodstock, Somers, Enfield, Suffield.

Sources, photos and more information at lostmassachusetts.com

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