Jun 23, 2017 By Frances Borsodi Zajac, For The Greene County Messenger 3 min read

Two hundred and fifty years ago, English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon walked the southern border of Somerset, Fayette and Greene counties as they worked on what would become known historically as the Mason-Dixon Line.

Now, a local group wants to commemorate that achievement with a fall celebration called Mason-Dixon 250 in 2017, a name that distinguishes it from other commemorations.

“How could we not do something?” asked Pete Zapadka, of exploretheline.com, who is board chairman for Mason-Dixon 250 in 2017.

This festival is scheduled for Oct. 13-15 at Mason-Dixon Historical Park, located in Mount Morris, Greene County and Core, West Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association.

Officials are now searching for local participants for the celebration that marks the end of the Mason-Dixon Line survey.

“We’re looking for donations and other historical societies to set up booths,” said Zapadka.

Hoping to appeal to a wide audience, the festival will feature history and families activities. There will be music, an arts and crafts show, quilt show, food, historic re-enactors, surveyors, speakers and presentations.

A star party will feature members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh and their telescopes to help the public seek stars that shone on Mason and Dixon.

Special historical areas will be set up with re-enactors, encampments, surveyors, the Adirondack shelter constructed by members of the Warrior Trail Association, and the site of Mason and Dixon’s final marker in 1767.

John Dixon of England, who is Jeremiah Dixon’s seven-times-great nephew through his brother George, is coming to the festival and organizers are also hoping the British prime minister will issue a proclamation.

Zapadka observed that people often think the Mason-Dixon Line is a division between the North and the South when it was actually meant to settle a territorial dispute between two families: the Penn Family of Pennsylvania, who was deeded their property by the English king in 1681, and the Calvert Family of Maryland, who was deeded their property by the English king in 1631. Turns out, there was an overlapping of property.

Mason and Dixon were hired to survey the land. They traveled from England to Philadelphia, landing in 1767 to begin work that also included surveying Maryland’s eastern border with Delaware. Their work affected the borders of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and present-day West Virginia.

“The deed from the king to the Penn Family included a line that extended five degrees in longitude from the Delaware River, and that spot is the current southwest corner of Pennsylvania – Greene County,” Zapadka said.

Zapadka said Mason and Dixon worked into October 1767, stopping in present-day Greene County but were unable to finish their work. The two men went back to England but Dixon later returned to America and lived in Philadelphia.

Andrew Ellicott eventually completed the survey of the famous line.

In fact, Zapadka noted Ellicott stayed in Uniontown, then known as Beesontown, in 1784 while doing his work. He said a book called “Andrew Ellicott: His Life and Letters” by Catherine Van Cortlandt Mathews notes that Ellicott wrote letters to his wife that made reference to him staying in Beesontown.

Learn more about plans for the festival by visiting the group’s website at md250.exploretheline.com.