Blacksville
A marker announcing the site of the Mason-Dixon Line sits just a few feet from the Blacksville United Methodist Church on the West Virginia side of the state line.
Bobby Lemley, who served as the mayor of Blacksville on the West Virginia side of the line for 28 years before leaving office a few years ago, points to the Mason-Dixon Line near his home’s property.
A map of Blacksville after its founding in 1830 shows some of the properties that are split along the Pennsylvania and West Virginia state line.
Children play on Main Street in Blacksville, W.Va., in 1908.
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Blacksville, W.Va., is shown in this undated photo.
There are houses in Blacksville where you can eat dinner in Pennsylvania and retire to bed later that night in West Virginia.
The home where Blacksville native Claudette Lantz’s mother lived in for most of her life took this Mason-Dixon divide to a whole new level. Her mother, Barbara Snodgrass, would fall asleep with her head in Pennsylvania and feet in West Virginia.
“It’s unique,” Lantz says, “that’s for sure.”
That is just one of the many quirks of this town settled on the Mason-Dixon Line about 10 miles west of Mt. Morris.
The waters of the Dunkard Creek meander through town, flowing seamlessly from one state to the other and back again. Similarly, the 171 Blacksville residents living on either side of the line don’t seem to notice the change in residency, viewing themselves as neighbors rather than state rivals.
At the Clay Battelle Area Senior Center, nestled beside the Mason Dixon Highway the length of a football field inside West Virginia, seniors from both states often gather for lunch and activities.
On one November afternoon, most of the members visiting the center hailed from West Virginia, so there was some good-natured ribbing for their Greene County neighbors to the north.
The group meets every day to chat and enjoy lunch.
“It’s all good,” Richard Wise of West Virginia says about whether there’s any semblance of a rivalry.
“He’s a hillbilly,” Jim Hall says with a laugh.
“Yes, I am,” Wise responds.
Virginia Ammons, 82, a West Virginia resident, said her parents, Evans and Thelma Lemley, had their own state-line rivalry before marrying in 1925. Evans grew up in Mt. Morris while Thelma hailed from nearby Pentress, W.Va. They literally found common ground by moving to Blacksville.
Ammons chatted with her friend Millie Parker, 90, a fellow West Virginian, as they laughed about the uniqueness of their little town.
“I’ve never had a rivalry,” Parker says of the Pennsylvania neighbors. “We’ve got lots of Steelers fans.”
The town is named after David Black, a civil engineer from Virginia who came to the area in 1800, purchasing 100 acres of land from Brice Worley for $50, according to records at the Cornerstone Genealogical Society in Waynesburg. He requested a patent in the summer of 1829 to lay out 160 acres of his land and sell plots in a move similar to creating a subdivision today. The Virginia General Assembly approved a charter to designate it as the town of Blacksville in February 1830.
Black died Nov. 28, 1864, at the age of 68, one year after the western half of Virginia seceded from the state, creating West Virginia. That state assembly reincorporated the town in October 1897.
It’s believed Black’s land and the town itself is split between the two states because Brice and Nathan Worley purchased their tract in 1766, one year before the Mason-Dixon Survey came through. Before that survey to map the border between Pennsylvania and Virginia, there had been land disputes by the two commonwealths about which state controlled this area.
But it’s very clear now which state and local government controls each side. Blacksville, W.Va., is its own town with its own government, while the Pennsylvania side is an unincorporated village and falls under the jurisdiction of Wayne Township in Greene County.
Even though the U.S. Post Office is just a stone’s throw from the state line, it only serves West Virginia residents. People living on the northern side in Pennsylvania must go to Spraggs or Brave to get their mail.
Meanwhile, a man delivering beer parks his truck outside a local convenience store on the West Virginia side and hauls the golden suds to stock the coolers, an action that would be unthinkable just 200 feet to the north in Pennsylvania.
But it’s all worked out over the years.
Bobby Lemley, mayor of Blacksville on the West Virginia side for 28 years before leaving office a few years ago, said it’s a unique situation as he walked the Mason Dixon Line that runs across his property near the highway.
While he governed only the West Virginia side, it made for an interesting partnership with Wayne Township. However, the two local governments worked closely, especially on a recent sewerage project.
“It ain’t too bad,” he says.
He then paused for a moment while thinking about the unique town that conjoins the two states.
“If only they got things straightened out here on the West Virginia side of the road,” he says with a laugh.