1628                             Joint Resolutions

should be the correct boundary line, a large portion of Pennsylvania,
including the site of the City of Philadelphia, would today be part
of the State of Maryland.

As part of the larger controversy, there was also a long and pro-
tracted difference of opinion over the selection of the "Middle Point",
now called "The Middle Stone", between the Chesapeake Bay and the
Atlantic Ocean for the purpose of determining the southwest corner
of what is now the State of Delaware. In this dispute, the Penn family
claimed that Taylor's Island in Dorchester County and the waters
between Taylor's Island and the mainland of the Eastern Shore should
be considered as a portion of the mainland. In the course of that con-
troversy, a large map, the original of which is now in the possession
of the Maryland Historical Society, showed clearly that Taylor's
Island actually was an island. This map was prepared in the year
1751 by Lord Baltimore and the Penn family.

If that controversy had been settled favorably to Lord Baltimore's
claim, the boundary line between the States of Maryland and Dela-
ware would today be approximately two miles to the east of its
present location.

No effort could or should be made today to change the present
boundary lines, but the great historic significance of the result of
this controversy should be suitably noted and marked.

The United States Government recently has made re-surveys and
re-locations of the Mason-Dixon Line between the States of Mary-
land and Delaware, including the so-called "Middle Stone", which
marks the southwest corner of the State of Delaware.

Efforts should be made to feature this "Middle Stone" and other
points closely involved in the dispute involving recognition of the
crucial role played in the controversy by Taylor's Island. On this
island, the Chapel of Ease, now standing and being restored by var-
ious contributors, was the local center of the discussion. This Chapel
was a branch of Old Trinity Church, built about the year 1680 and
now in process of most careful restoration by Mrs. Edwin W. Gar-
bisch. As part of any such restoration work, it is the hope of the
General Assembly of Maryland that the Wicomico County Historical
Society will give its hearty assistance. This Society, since the year
1933 has had as its primary express purpose the preservation of the
heritage, culture and historic relics and monuments of Maryland's
colonial background. The Senate hopes also that the Sussex County
Archeological and Historical Association, in the State of Delaware,
will lend its assistance in this project.

The site on which the two monuments at "Middle Point" are located
is part of a privately-owned farmland some distance from a public
road so that access to the monuments is only by the indulgence of the
owners of the land. It is the hope of the Senate of Maryland that
they will be made more easily accessible; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Wicomico
County Historical Society, THE DORCHESTER COUNTY HIS-
TORICAL SOCIETY and the Sussex County Archeological and
Historical Association use their good offices to acquire from the
owners of the land on which "Middle Point" is situated, a right-of-way
or easement from the nearest public road of sufficient area to allow