Which States Border Virginia?
The Commonwealth of Virginia is a state in the US located in South Eastern part of the country and mid-Atlantic region. The state lies between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coast, and it has earned the name the Old Dominion because of its status as the first British Colonial possession to be established in North America. Virginia shares its borders with five other states: Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The commonwealth state of Virginia also shares a border with Washington DC, which is technically not a state and has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean as well.
Maryland
Several charters created the border separating Virginia from Maryland during the Colonial period, two different negotiations by the two states in 1785 and 1958, the arbitration of 1877 and the Supreme Court rulings. The Potomac River creates the boundary between Virginia and Maryland, and it is on the eastern banks which separate Virginia’s Accomack County and Worcester County in Maryland. The state of Virginia, unlike other states, does not possess half of the river as is the case in different states. The boundary lies near the shoreline on the Virginia side of the lowest water mark. In the 1950s drinking liquor and gambling were illegal in Maryland while it was not in Virginia and therefore Prince William County under colonial beach county placed the slot machines for gambling docked in the river on the Virginian shoreline. The customers could park on Virginia’s and crossed the border into Maryland to drink and gamble.
North Carolina
Present-day North Carolina was initially part of Virginia according to the three different colonial charters which were granted to the Virginia Company. In 1609 the second charter was awarded to the Virginia Company by King James I, and it established the southern border and about 200 miles south of Cape Charles near the present day Wilmington in North Carolina. The boundary between the two states was surveyed several times in subsequent years. One interesting survey carried out in 1887 passed through a house, bisecting it into two, and the house is still standing today next to Route 13.
Kentucky
The border between Virginia and Kentucky experiences less controversy and conflict compared to other boundaries of the state of Virginia like the borders it shares with North Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia
Pennsylvania
Presently there is no common border between the state of Pennsylvania and Virginia; however, between 1681 and 1863, the two States shared a common border. William Penn established the western boundary of the state of Pennsylvania in 1681 videos based on the longitude of the Eastern boundary. When the state of West Virginia was created, the two states were separated by West Virginia.
