North Carolina And South Carolina To Revert Back To Old State Borderline

In the 1700s the king of England demanded that North Carolina and South Carolina set distinct boundary lines, a process that involved traversing swamp land, battling panthers and otherwise risking the lives of surveyors.

In 1772 the border region between South and North Carolina were finally set. Now after two decades of painstaking survey work with the help of GPS and massive amounts of paperwork, the 335-mile-long border is about to be restored to its original colonial marker.

While a simple shift may not seem like a huge deal, it’s causing headaches for various reasons. For example according to the New York Times South Carolina resident Judy Helms will watch as her four acres of land is chopped in half, essentially her home will be in North Carolina while her backyard dog will reside in South Carolina.

Because of the shift Judy and other residents in similar situations will be forced to obtain new driver’s licenses and in some cases even pay higher property and other taxes. In Judy’s area alone nearly 30 homeowners and a gas station owner are dealing with the state line changeover.

Too deal with an event that will undoubtedly lead to other issues the two states’ attorneys general’s offices are trying to minimize the effects of the changes on residents in both states. In the meantime there is still 40 miles left to figure out with officials hoping to have the new state lines completely nailed down by the end of 2012.

Would you be upset if your state changed its boundary line by a couple of feet and caused undue hardship on your lie?