Boundaries of Virginia

After reports reached England of the shipwreck, Shakespeare incorporated it into his new play, "The Tempest." King James made a more substantial decision, revising the boundaries of Virginia in the Third Charter to include Bermuda within the colony governed from Jamestown.

When the Mayflower sailed from Leyden and then London in 1620, it was headed to the Hudson River area. At the time, what is now part of New York fell within the boundaries of the colony of Virginia. The Mayflower ended up at Cape Cod, and those on board chose to land there rather than fight storms to sail further south. The Separatists had picked up a set of "Strangers" in London to help pay the cost of the trip, and both groups evidently were concerned that a decision to go ashore in an unchartered area could lead to confusion regarding government of the settlement.

If Gate's clerk was the same Stephen Hopkins on the Mayflower a decade after the Bermuda shipwreck, he may have contributed to the concern about the legitimacy of government in a region outside the official boundaries of the Virginia colony, and helped formulate the wording of the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact resolved that, and also documented the original destination of the ship:

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620.

• Plymouth Colony Archive Project at the University of Virginia
• Plimouth Plantation
• Stephen Hopkins
  • his biography (from the Mayflower Web Pages)
  • a reference to his role in the Bermuda uprising against Sir William Gates (from the Cape Cod Genealogy)

Virginia-Maryland Boundary

Virginia-North Carolina Boundary

Virginia-Pennsylvania Boundary

Virginia-Tennessee Boundary

Virginia-Kentucky Boundary

Virginia-District of Columbia Boundary

Virginia-West Virginia Boundary

Surveying in Virginia

Virginia Charters

The Fairfax Grant

Assateague Island National Seashore

False Cape State Park

Cumberland Gap

Links

• "Boundaries of Virginia" An exact description of the limits and boundaries of the state of Virginia. (Thomas Jefferson: Notes on the State of Virginia)
• Boundaries, Jurisdiction, and Emblems of the Commonwealth (Title 7.1 of the Code of Virginia)
  • § 7.1-1. Extent of territory of Virginia under the royal government
  • § 7.1-2. Jurisdiction and ownership of Commonwealth over offshore waters and lands thereunder
  • Cession of territory northwest of Ohio River
• Census Bureau - Boundary Changes - Virginia (from the Boundary and Annexation Survey)
• Colonial Grants, 1606 and 1620
• Charting the Future: Famous Explorers and Expeditions from Virginia (with a clickable map showing the James River to be only a 10-day walk from the Pacific Ocean)
• English Colonies in North America, 1660
• Evolution of the Mason-Dixon Line (NOTE: a 1909 publication...)
• Outer Continental Shelf
• About.com - Political Geography of the Oceans
• Mineral Management Service - Outer Continental Shelf
• Potomac River boundaries (as defined for fishing licenses)
• Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Tech) - Public Recreational Rights on Virginia's Inland Streams (dealing with navigability and public ownership of riverbeds)
• William Byrd II
  • William Byrd II: The History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina (including a copy of the Surveyor's Map of the Dividing Line)
  • The Significance of William Byrd and His History of the Dividing Line
  • Westover
  • William Byrd II and Robert "King" Carter: Their Stories and the Homes that Helped to Define their Legacy
• Public Land Survey (and Virginia's cession of land claims)
• Rising Seas, Coastal Erosion, And The Takings Clause: How To Save Wetlands And Beaches Without Hurting Property Owners (Maryland Law Review)
• Virginia Marine Resources Commission - Boundaries

Recommended Reading

• Hughes, Sarah S., "Old Lines and New Boundaries," Surveyors and Statesmen: Land Measuring in Colonial Virginia, pp.131-155, Virginia Surveyors Foundation and Virginia Association of Surveyors, 1979
• Legislation (from Boundary Compacts listed on States News site of the Council of State Governments
  • Virginia and West Virginia Boundary Agreement of 1863 Virginia: Constitution of West Virginia, *Virginia Acts (Wheeling) 1862-63, Ch. 54, p.38; *Virginia Acts (Wheeling) 1862-63, Ch. 78, p. 65. *Upheld by Virginia v. West Virginia 1870 U.S. 11 Wall. 39. [1861] Virginia and West Virginia Boundary Compact of 1959 Virginia: 1959 Acts of Assembly, Extra Session, Ch. 44, p. 122, approved April 24, [1959]
  • Virginia-District of Columbia Boundary Line Compact of 1946 Virginia: 1946 Acts of Assembly, Ch. 26, p. 47 [1946]
  • Virginia-Kentucky Boundary (Kentucky and Virginia Jurisdiction Act of 1789) Virginia: Code 1950, Sec.7.1-6 [1789 (convention enacts articles), 1791 (articles become binding compact), 1792 (boundary becomes official)]
  • Virginia-Maryland Boundary Agreement of 1878 Virginia: Code 1950, Sec.7.1-7 [1878 (as amended), superseded Maryland-Virginia Compact of 1785]
  • Virginia-North Carolina Boundary Agreement of 1791 Virginia: Code 1950, Sec.7.1-4 [1791]
  • Virginia-North Carolina Boundary Agreement of 1970 Virginia: 1970 Acts of Assembly, Ch. 343, p. 578 [1970]
  • Virginia-Tennessee Boundary Agreement(s) Virginia: Code 1950, Sec.7-4 [1803 and 1901]
• White, C. Albert, A History of the Rectangular Survey System, US Department of the Interior - Bureau of Land Management, Government Printing Office, 1985(?)