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Virginians were serious about magnetic north. The General Assembly passed an Act in 1772 stating that a true north meridian must be used in surveys and maps, and that the degree of magnetic variation be noted. Failure to comply? The surveyor paid damages from any lawsuits.
The issue was addressed again with an Act approved on March 26, 1875. The General Assembly stipulated that the Board of Supervisors of each county east of the Allegheny Mountains was to have a competent surveyor establish a true meridian line for a cost of $30 or less. It was to be at some central and accessible spot; and where iron ore or other minerals did not affect compass needles. The line was to be at least 300 yards long, with each end marked by a substantial stone monument planted in the earth. On July first of each year, surveyors were to set their compasses by this meridian line, and mark on any subsequent surveys or maps the magnetic variation. Noncompliance? Again, the surveyor paid damages from any lawsuits.
The Board of Supervisors saunters
into action in 1895
The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors finally got around to implementing the 1875 Act on September 21,1895, when it appointed surveyor John Edward Sutphin to establish a meridian line. Sutphin, bom in Rappahannock County on June 3,1873, attended school here and at the Luray Military Academy in Page County. When he undertook the meridian line project he was only 23 years old, but was aided by another surveyor, G. W. Utterback. Sutphin became County Surveyor in 1895, a position he held for almost 30 years.
Why a meridian line in 1895? Probably because the Town of Washington had just been incorporated the year before and updated boundary lines may have been needed.
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