A History of the Boundaries of Arlington County, VirginiaArlington Co., Va. County Manager
History
A History of the Boundaries of Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington Co., Va. County Manager
Arlington County (Va.) -- Boundaries
[67] Acts of Assembly, 1946, Chapter 26. _Code of Virginia,
1950_, Title 7.1, Sec. 10.
This law is in effect today. It provides that the boundary line
"shall begin at a point where the northwest boundary of the
District of Columbia intercepts the high-water mark of the Virginia
shore of the Potomac River and following the present mean
high-water mark; thence in a southeasterly direction along the
Virginia shore of the Potomac River to Little River, along the
Virginia shore of Little River to Boundary Channel, along the
Virginia side of Boundary Channel to the main body of the Potomac
River, along the Virginia side of the Potomac River across the
mouths of all tributaries affected by the tides of the river to
Second Street, Alexandria, Virginia, from Second Street to the
present established pierhead line, and following said pierhead line
to its connection with the District of Columbia-Maryland boundary
line; that whenever said mean high-watermark on the Virginia shore
is altered by artificial fill and excavations made by the United
States, or by alluvion or erosion, then the boundary shall follow
the new mean high-water mark on the Virginia shore as altered, or
whenever the location of the pierhead line along the Alexandria
water front is altered, then the boundary shall follow the new
location of the pierhead line."
The Act also provided that all the land on the Virginia side of the
Potomac lying between the boundary line as now adopted and the mean
high water mark as it existed on January 24, 1791 (wherever that was!)
should be ceded to the State of Virginia. The United States, however,
reserved concurrent jurisdiction over this area.
Here the matter rests very uneasily today. The exact line was surveyed,
monumented, and mapped by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey over the
years 1946-1947.[68] However, the working agreements reached by the law
enforcement officials of the various jurisdictions concerned have not
always proven satisfactory. The long history of the location of the
Potomac River boundary of Arlington County cannot yet be said to have
reached its end.
[68] Unpublished Report dated March 27, 1947, from Lt. Comdr.
Roswell C. Bolstad, Chief of Party, on Project G-815, Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Department of Commerce.
_Postscript--Towns in Arlington County_
Of the three towns which have lain within Arlington County, the only
one whose limits have been of importance to the territorial extent of
the County is Alexandria. Nonetheless, to complete the record, some
mention should be made of the Town of Potomac and the Town of Falls
Church, the first of which lay wholly within Arlington, and the second,
partly so.
Falls Church is the older town. It was chartered by the General
Assembly on March 30, 1875.[69] The charter set forth the boundaries as:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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