Filed Under Geography
The Border Today
This map, taken from an 1895 atlas, shows the village of Adamsville, with the current RI/MA border depicted by the pink line. Note the Westport River, along the right edge of the photo, that once marked the original boundary between Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The border between Adamsville and Westport was changed in 1747 from the west bank of the Westport River (which is just to the East of Brayton's Garage) to this location in the middle of the mill pond. The new border cut though established lots creating private properties that were half in RI and half in MA. Though more than two centuries old, the "new" border continues to cause difficulties for dual-state homeowners today.
More importantly, Little Compton lost its claim on the "Acoaxet" triangle, one of Massachusetts' loveliest seaside communities.
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This map, taken from an 1895 atlas, shows the village of Adamsville, with the current RI/MA border depicted by the pink line. Note the Westport River, along the right edge of the photo, that once marked the original boundary between Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
This seventeenth-century map shows the allocation of land to the original proprietors of the Adamsville area. The Westport River, once known as the Acoaxet River, originally formed the eastern boundary of Adamsville. When the border between Rhode Island and Massachusetts changed in the eighteenth century, some of the property lots were split so that they were a part of both states.
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