Nineteenth century map showing the Mason-Dixon Line. Photo: Image courtesy of Simon Webb.
Jeremiah Dixieland?
Simon Webb writes about the Mason-Dixon Line
by Simon Webb
26th June 2015
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.
