November 23, 1806

Observing Walker’s Line

Wallings November 23d 1806

This day in compliance with the request of a certain Gentlemen, I undertook to settle the latitude of a line usually denominated Walkers Line, formerly dividing the States of Virginia and North Carolina. The position selected for this observation was near the habitation of a Mr. Walling, 200 yards south of said line, and about two miles distant from Cumberland Gap.

Methodology

The instruments used in this observation were a Sextant on the most approved plan, with a reversing Telescope for an eye-piece, and a good Micrometer, and an artificial horizon in which water was used as the reflecting surface. I took the meridian altitude of the Suns lower limb, and calculated the latitude.

Results

. . . it appeared that the place of observation was in North latitude 36° 38′ 12″ 1/10—if therefore the Charters of the States of North Carolina and Virginia call for . . . 36° 30′ North as a boundary between them, the line of Walker is Nine miles and 1,077 yards North of its proper position.

This statement, I have given to Colo. Arthur Campbell, at his request, to be presented to the public view, in any manner he may think proper.

Meriwether Lewis, Capt.
1st U. S. Regt. Infantry^[1]Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts From January 1, 1799, to December 31, 1807, Volume IX, pages 504–506 as transcribed by Lorna Hainesworth in “Meriwether Lewis’s … Continue reading

When the states of Kentucky and Tennessee were carved out of Virginia and North Carolina, most officials knew that Walker’s line was too far north from 39° 30’—the borderline in the original Colonial charters given by King Charles II in 1665. Campbell and others asked the new American celebrity, Meriwether Lewis, to survey the line in hopes it would spur legislative action and gain Kentucky a 10-mile-wide strip of land. Incidentally, Lewis was long by about 2½ miles.

Not until 1820 did Kentucky and Tennessee agree to use the true 39° 30′ line—at least west of the Tennessee River. It would take a few more years to conduct more surveys and settle the issue.^[2]Hainesworth, Lewis’s Survey. In the meanwhile, settlers living in this disputed strip sometimes said they lived in “Kennessee”.^[3]“Kennessee”, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennessee accessed 1 January 2026.