About

The Mason and Dixon Line Preservation Partnership was established in November, 1990 to inventory the stones that mark the Mason and Dixon line and determine ways to preserve the stones from further loss and deterioration. Ultimately, we hope to replace the stones, which have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

The Partnership has also undertaken the major task of locating the stones using the Global Positioning System (GPS). This method of surveying uses a constellation of satellites, which orbit the Earth. Through this procedure, we will be able to obtain the Latitude and longitude of the stones to sub-centimeter precision.

Though often associated with the issue of slavery and the division of “north” and “south”, the history of the Mason and Dixon Line predates the Civil War by over 200 years. The “Mason and Dixon” is named after Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, English astronomers; surveyors and mathematicians hired by the Penn and Calvert families to establish the long disputed boundary.