Postcard of the Day

[fflo]

 

Comments

[paperkingdoms]

... I find the apparent disappearance of Pennsylvania in this picture a little disturbing. Or at least inspiring some sort of post-apocalyptic story.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Looks like it was a HUGE flood. Funny all that water could flow out that river and not erode and of DE or NJ.

[paperkingdoms]

And Maryland gets a mention on the map, at least. Pennsylvania is just... gone.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Like maybe Washington crossed the Delaware and never looked back, so neither should we. Or was he going the other way?

[paperkingdoms]

I think that was Valley Forge, so...

/pokes the Interwebz

yeah, it was a PA --> NJ crossing, Valley Forge to Trenton area.

:^)

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I'd pictured them heading south, so I'm glad that's right. It's hard to reorient shit in yer head.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Oh, rats. It was more eastern, wasn't it. Maybe even northeastern.

Well, I'll choose to think the particular bend they chose meant going south, or south-southeast. Like how you can drive south to Canada from Detroit. Sorta. Okay not much like that at all I guess.

[paperkingdoms]

Yeah, mostly east, a little north if anything. To fight the Hessians in Trenton.

Heh.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Who would have thought there was so much to do there?

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

It weirds me out that the southern portion of the east coast is so straight that it looks like an artificial boundary, though a quick check on Google maps shows that the stretch of coastline is pretty straight.

I've always been amused by the circular arc of the northern border, and the way it doesn't quite meet the border with Mmaryland.

I'm told it's the only state in the US that doesn't have any caves.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I've always been amused by the circular arc of the northern border, and the way it doesn't quite meet the border with Mmaryland.

"The Wedge" was actually disputed territory among Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey until the early 20th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_(border) There are persistent rumors of lawless behavior, banditry, bootlegging, and that The Wedge was a notorious place for outlaws to hide out, because of a supposed lack of an agreed-upon jurisdiction by law enforcement, but I'm inclined to call shenanigans on that, because no one's come up with any kind of citations that I can find.

The circular northern border of Delaware is a 12 mile circle centered on the old court house in New Castle, DE. It's the only state border that's an arc of a circle.

Also, interestingly, all of the Delaware River inside the 12-mile circle belongs to Delaware, unlike most state borders that follow a watercourse, which usually split the distance between the low-water marks. As a result, some artificially created land on the east shore of the river belongs to Delaware, like the northern tip of Artificial Island.

/former Delaware resident

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I want to believe the Wedge stories too. Poor state needs something exciting besides its taxes and how you can get fewer digits on your license plate if you'll cough up the big bucks. You know, since it's caveless & all.

That section of a circle as a border's kinda hot, tho.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

So this conversation got me looking at that border in closeup in Google Maps, and it's odd how so many man-made things, including treelines between fields and apparent residential property lines, seem to completely ignore the border.