#southwick jog

[massachusetts-official]

Thoughts on the tiny blip into Connecticut?

Look, we established Southwick Jog as a part of Massachusetts fair and square during whatever the fuck happened over there.

Besides, I said it once and I will say it again, they're better off with us anyway.

[rhode-island-real]

@state-of-connecticut-official

Massachusetts stole Southwick Jog from you.

If you join me in stealing Seekonk from them, i'll stand with you in stealing Southwick back.

[charlesccastill]

How laziness, fear, blunders, and fights gave Mass. towns such weird borders

Have you ever heard of the “Southwick Jog?’’ Massachusetts and Connecticut fought over this mistake for more than 160 years.

The post How laziness, fear, blunders, and fights gave Mass. towns such weird borders appeared first on Boston.com Real Estate.

from boston condos ford realtor http://realestate.boston.com/news/2018/03/29/how-mass-towns-got-such-weird-borders/

[thedaikon888-blog]

For even more delicious this drink chill before drinking (Ramune bottle) by Southwick-Jog https://www.reddit.com/r/engrish/comments/6vdxsr/for_even_more_delicious_this_drink_chill_before/?utm_source=ifttt

[flight-freedom]

You can have Southwick Jog and Springfield(!!! ahh such a good deal) in exchange do you mind if we absorb half of Rhode Island, East of Coventry? They're so smol. No one will notice!

@state-of-connecticut-official

Massachusetts stole Southwick Jog from you.

If you join me in stealing Seekonk from them, i'll stand with you in stealing Southwick back.

[closetotheborderline]

Congamond Road / Connecticut Highway 168 Looking east from Southwick, Massachusetts, into Suffield, Connecticut. The body of water is the "middle pond" of the Congamond Lakes. The borderline lays on the eastern shoreline, located just under the front of the backhoe. All of the water is in Massachusetts. The traffic signals on the left are in Connecticut. Most of Massachusetts lays due north of Connecticut. However, this image was taken from inside the Southwick Jog, a notch cut out of Connecticut's border to balance out an error made by land surveyors who accidentally gave away the seven southernmost miles of Massachusetts. This mistake, which has lived on through five centuries, still gives some property owners fits. (We don't know where exactly those property owners live, but these people must have similar problems.)

The 12 Mile Circle can give you much more detailed and entertaining information about the Southwick Jog. We're only good at clipping pictures.

(Google Maps, Bing)

[misseffieb]

I've probably mentioned this before-- I grew up in Massachusetts.  Yesterday, I had one of those odd between-asleep-and-awake musings, and it was about why there's that little tiny nib in Massachusetts's otherwise-straight border with Connecticut. Starting at at Ye Olde Wikipædie, I was led to some pretty rad info.

Turns out, it's called "the Southwick jog," named for the town of Southwick, MA, which was a big part of the dispute. Yes, dispute!  A 162-year-long border dispute started when the states were called Connecticut territory and Massachusetts Bay Colony.  It's a really interesting relic from a time when our colonies were still under English rule, but otherwise pretty autonomous-- so every little square mile counted.  This paper (PDF) has the whole oddly-contentious thing in depth, but here's a summary (via the Connecticut state library):

In 1642 Massachusetts hired two surveyors, Nathaniel Woodward and Solomon Saffery, to survey the boundary between that colony and Connecticut. However, the point they established as the western end of the line was disputed by Connecticut and ultimately found to be eight miles too far south.

According to the paper I linked to above, these guys were morons:

"Massachusetts had great faith in their abilities characterizing them as “skillful and approved artists.” Connecticut was not so enamored by their skills and spoke of them rather sarcastically as “the Mathematicians.” But whatever men thought of them, they did their best despite several obstacles. For instance, about all they had to “go on” was the Massachusetts Charter which stated that the southern border of Massachusetts ran west to the Pacific Ocean, “from a point three miles south of the most southerly branch of the Charles River...”

...They began at the place they believed was three miles south of the most southerly branch of the Charles and noted the latitude. Then they made their fatal mistake. Rather than perambulate the territory in question as would be the normal routine, they figured they could save themselves a considerable amount of work and time by taking a ship around the colony up the Connecticut River and there, at the proper latitude, fix the line and establish the boundary. This is what they did. But due to faulty instruments or erroneous observation, they fixed the line considerably too far to the south. Indeed, at its widest margin, the line ran seven miles below the true line, and at its narrowest, about four miles..."

Connecticut protested the decision, but had no proof.  And they had no land charter: they were basically squatters.  Back to the Connecticut Library:

According to a pamphlet in our vertical file, for the next 60 years, "surveyors hired by either Connecticut or Massachusetts set a number of boundaries favorable to the colony that employed them. The only result of these surveys was increased animosity between the two colonies. Even a joint survey in 1702 did little to settle the affair.

Then, according to the paper:

"After a considerable amount of mature study and debate, it was decided [after a 1713 survey showing the "real" border a few miles north of what had been on record up to then] that Massachusetts should retain control of these towns, but Connecticut should be reimbursed with an equivalent amount of land within Massachusetts’ border.  It was also agreed that all disputes with regard to Springfield, east and west, which included the Westfield-Southwick area, should be settled with Massachusetts in firm and rightful control."

But no one had thought to ask the citizens of the towns in question, so of course (back to the CT library now):

"To complicate matters, the citizens of Enfield, Somers, Suffield and Woodstock, unhappy with Massachusetts' high taxes, applied for admission into Connecticut in 1724. These towns claimed they were included within Connecticut's original boundaries and were entitled to return to that state."

Plus ça change...

"Naturally, Massachusetts refused to give them up, but in 1749 Connecticut voted to acquire them. A verbal battle raged for years, reaching crisis proportions. Appeals to England were ignored, since that country was embroiled in the Seven Years' War."

"In 1768, Massachusetts laid formal claim to the four towns; however, Connecticut did nothing about the edict and continued to govern them."

As late as 1801, they were still fighting about it.  Massachusetts, burned by having earlier ceded territory to Connecticut as a means of payment for this land agreement, was unwilling to budge, even about a few acres of land. 

But, dastardly Connecticut saw no need to back down, since it had been administering the land in question for 27 years, by its estimation. Since, of course, the land was part of Connecticut at the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775 (ahem), and Massachusetts had not disputed the boundary at the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, Connecticut figured it should keep the land.

In the end, a fairly boring agreement was finally reached in 1804.  It had to do with which parts of the disputed land were on which side of a lake, and thus, where the inhabitants had been going to participate in town activities.  Yawn.  

Anyway, awesome!  Or, awesome if you're me. Which I am.

[mbta-unofficial]

Suck my Southwick Jog