Jeremiah Dixieland?

25 Jun 2015 | by Simon Webb

Simon Webb writes about the Mason-Dixon Line

Nineteenth century map showing the Mason-Dixon Line. | Photo: Image courtesy of Simon Webb.

Was an entire region of what is now the United States of America nicknamed after a Durham Quaker? As a Friend living in County Durham, it is a question that has some fascination for me.

The region in question is the South, or the Southern States, and the Quaker is Jeremiah Dixon, a native of Cockfield in County Durham. Jeremiah helped the astronomer Charles Mason draw what became known as the Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland in the 1760s.

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