The Hunt for Delaware Boundary Monuments

In 1980, William "Sandy" Schenck was a college graduate looking for employment as a geologist - which was a difficult task in the wake of the 1970s global oil crisis. With no professional prospects in sight, he scheduled an interview to be a bartender on a cruise ship. 

Then one day he ran into one of his geology professors who mentioned that the  Delaware Geological Survey  (DGS) was hiring someone to locate Federal vertical control benchmarks in Delaware and report on their condition to the  National Geodetic Survey  (NGS).

Sandy discovered location errors between the NGS disks and the East-West Boundary. NGS ran a straight line from monument 0 to the west, but the Colonial surveyors had a faulty chain that caused the original boundary to curve north.

In the survey community, there is “a well-known rule that an actual line upon the ground is to be preferred to the written description of the same line in a deed.”

The stone monuments were left in place because they have defined the East-West Boundary since the Colonial survey. Where the location errors occurred, one-mile disks were moved to align with the five-mile stone monuments.

Sandy visited the Middle Point pavilion, located at the southwest corner of Delaware, to document vandalism. The monument placed by Mason and Dixon was missing with only the base left behind. Two other monuments were also in the pavilion.

Vandals had removed the Mason and Dixon monument by chaining it to the bumper of a vehicle.

The monument was recovered by Delaware State Police, repaired by cemetery monument restorer Ron Gatton, and resurveyed by Ralph Poust (NGS).  

A protective wrought iron fence was installed all the way around the pavilion and as high as the roof so that access to the monument is through a locked gate. 

The following are some of the more interesting circumstances that Sandy and Roger encountered while recovering monuments on the North-South Boundary:

This monument was found erect but broken off five inches above the ground surface. There was a bullet hole on the south side of the stone, and an orange stripe was painted on three sides. The monument was repaired and resurveyed two years later.

A local farmer found monument 5 along a road with a chain around it, so he brought it to his barn for safe keeping. The monument was reset in its original location and resurveyed in 1976.

When Sandy and Roger recovered the monument in 1984, they observed deep chain marks in the stone. The chain marks were not repaired because it was unclear whether this damage occurred in 1976 or during Colonial times, which would make it part of the history of the stone.

Monument 17 had an "M" on the west side and a "P" and an "M" on the east side. Apparently the stone cutter made a mistake and cut two M's on the stone, so a P was cut over the miscut M!

"M" faces Maryland and "P" faces Delaware (in Colonial times, Delaware was considered the three lower counties of Pennsylvania).

This monument was found with chipped edges, chunks missing from the top corners, and graffiti painted on three sides. Due to the risk of causing more damage to the monument, no attempt was made to remove the graffiti.

The monument was found in 1982 lying in a hedgerow and was put in storage for safe keeping. Two years later, at the request of the farmer, the monument was reset north of the farm field and buried deep in the ground for protection from farm equipment and automobiles.

When monument 81 was recovered in 1984 it had a large vertical split, and the two halves were being held together by heavy gauge wire. The monument was repaired and resurveyed, but in 2010 it was reported that the monument had begun to split again.

During the dualization of Elkton Road/MD Route 279 in 1983, Arc Stone 1 was removed and stored at a local garage.

When road construction was complete, there was a joint decision between Delaware and Maryland to place the stone back at the original location. A manhole was constructed and the monument was set inside it. 

In 1984, Sandy and Roger recovered boundary monument 85 in the side yard of a home with a bird bath sitting on top of it. The monument was not in its original location and needed to be reset and resurveyed. 

Two years later, while digging the hole to reset the monument, Sandy discovered a plastic tube with a piece of paper inside.

Although waterlogged and difficult to read, the letter stated:

To whom it may concern:

We the undersigned, on this day of Feb. 2, 1950 at 11:04 P.M. do hereby confess and swear that we excavated and surveyed this monument of the original boundary line between Maryland and what was formerly Penn. This being the original monument placed here by Mason and Dixon in the 18th century, we found it to be in excellent condition considering the weather conditions and the length of time since its erection.

Signed

W. Richard Foster, Jr. C.E.52

Harry E. Mayhew, Jr. M.E.53

As it turned out, Harry Mayhew was the father of Sandy's best friend and college roommate! What were the odds of that?! 

Sandy called Harry and asked, "What were you doing at 11:04 pm the night of February 2, 1950?"

Harry explained that it was cold, sleeting and snowing that night. He and Richard had to dig up the monument and get its measurements and condition as a pledge to a fraternity at UD.

Harry's son has the letter as a keepsake.

Sandy received a call that the monument was found in a nearby ravine. He arranged to have it retrieved and transported to the DGS.

One year later, the monument was set in the correct position in the front yard of a house in the Merestone housing development.

The remaining five missing monuments were never found, so they were replaced with aluminum disks set in concrete.

New reference monuments were set on the northern portion of the Delaware-New Jersey Boundary in 1986.

Two years later, reference disk 4 fell into the river. On a very cold day in February of 1988, NGS staff re-installed reference monument 4.

Since this area is very marshy, a stainless steel rod was driven into the ground inside a 4-inch PVC pipe filled with concrete.

When the restoration of Delaware's 179 boundary monuments was completed in 2001, the Delaware Boundary Commission delivered new boundary agreements with Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Governor Ruth Ann Minner.

The monuments are jointly maintained by the State Of Delaware,  Division of Parks and Recreation  and the  Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs , since many are listed on the National Register.

Sandy continued his work at DGS as a Piedmont geologist and has been called upon on numerous occasions to help with boundary-related matters.

Sandy retired from DGS in 2021. His final publications include an update to the Piedmont bedrock map of Delaware (see  this report ) and a  web map  that shows over 1,000 thin section samples from Delaware Piedmont rocks. He still participates in activities that maintain the National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG) national geology examinations used for licensure of professional geologists.

Through the years and all of his professional accomplishments, he continues to have fond memories of his boundary monument recovery work and the friendships he developed, particularly with Ralph Poust, David Doyle and Roger Nathan.

The 179 boundary monuments are an integral part of Delaware's history. Preserving and respecting them should be a priority for all of us.

References:

Hodgkins, W.C., 1894, Appendix No. 8-1893: U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1893-Part II

Nathan, R.E., 2000, East of the Mason-Dixon Line: A History of the Delaware Boundaries, 104 p.

Schenck, W.S., 1989, Delaware's State Boundaries, Delaware Geological Survey Information Series No. 6, 2 p.