Tri-state area

There are a number of areas in the 48 contiguous United States known as tri-state areas where three states either meet at one point (a tripoint) or are in proximity to each other. The best known of the latter type is the New York metropolitan area. Another well known tri-state region is located where New York meets Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The Tri-State area around New York City is where New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut nearly meet. There is no tripoint, however, as Connecticut does not touch New Jersey. The term "tri-state" may also be used to refer to Chicago's tri-state region, commonly referred to as Chicagoland, which includes Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. This tri-state region also does not have a tripoint since Indiana does not touch Wisconsin.

Another example where three states meet are Philadelphia's Delaware Valley and the Pittsburgh tri-State. Pittsburgh's tri-state region includes Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, which meet near the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey northwest of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia's tri-state area consists of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware, with a tripoint meeting in the Delaware River near the east end of the Twelve-Mile Arc.

Other large metropolitan areas with a tri-state area include Cincinnati and Memphis.

Smaller tri-state areas include those of Dubuque, Iowa, which spills over into Illinois and Wisconsin; of Quincy, Illinois which includes parts of Missouri and Iowa; Evansville, Indiana, which includes parts of Illinois and Kentucky, and the Huntington (W.V.)-Ashland (Ky.)-Ironton (Oh.) Tri-State region, which incorporates areas of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. The Quincy, Evansville, and Huntington-Ashland areas are noteworthy for the states included all being separated by rivers.

Also notable, Chattanooga, Tennessee is associated with a nearby tripoint that includes Alabama and Georgia.

The area that includes Washington, D.C. and the nearby parts of Maryland and the Virginias is sometimes loosely referred to as a "tri-state area," although the District of Columbia is not a state.

The "Joplin District", a lead and zinc mining region of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, produced mineral specimens known as "Tri-State" minerals.

Contents

Land tripoints

Of the 62 points in the United States where three and only three states meet (each of which may be associated with its own tri-state area), 35 are on dry land.[1] They are:

State 1 State 2 State 3 Notes
Alabama Florida Georgia Marker on riverbank is actually a few feet above and west of true tripoint at high-water line.
Alabama Georgia Tennessee Recently stolen marker on dry land at surface level and unmarked on lake in cavern directly below.
Arizona Nevada Utah Marked.
Arkansas Louisiana Mississippi Unmarked on silt island in river connected to west bank by riprap.
Arkansas Louisiana Texas See Ark-La-Tex. Marker in process of being surrounded and absorbed by tree.
Arkansas Missouri Oklahoma Marked.
Arkansas Oklahoma Texas Unmarked on seasonal silt island or in river bed, but Oklahoma-Texas state line as revised in 2000 is defective in not extending from vegetation line on south bank to pre-established tripoint.
California Nevada Oregon Marked.
Colorado Kansas Nebraska Marked.
Colorado Kansas Oklahoma 8 Mile Corner. Marker is concealed in crypt beneath removable manhole cover.
Colorado Nebraska Wyoming Marked.
Colorado New Mexico Oklahoma Preston Monument
Colorado Utah Wyoming Marked.
Connecticut Massachusetts New York See Brace Mountain or Mount Frissell. Marked.
Connecticut Massachusetts Rhode Island See Thompson, Connecticut. Marked.
Delaware Maryland Pennsylvania See Delaware Wedge. Marked.
Georgia North Carolina Tennessee Marked.
Idaho Montana Wyoming Located within Yellowstone National Park. Marked.
Idaho Nevada Oregon Marked.
Idaho Nevada Utah Marked.
Idaho Utah Wyoming Marked.
Indiana Michigan Ohio Marker is concealed in crypt beneath removable iron cover.
Iowa Minnesota South Dakota Marked.
Kansas Missouri Oklahoma Marked. On seldom used dead-end road. Apparently a teenagers' backwoods drinking spot.
Kentucky Tennessee Virginia Tri-State Peak[2] Located within Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Marked.
Kentucky Virginia West Virginia Marked.
Maryland Pennsylvania West Virginia Marked.
Massachusetts New Hampshire Vermont Marker is technically on dry land, but buried within river bed.[3]
Massachusetts New York Vermont Marked.
Montana North Dakota South Dakota Marked.
Montana South Dakota Wyoming Marked.
Nebraska South Dakota Wyoming Marked.
New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Marked by the Tri-State Monument in Port Jervis, New York by the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink Rivers.
New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Texomex Marker
North Carolina Tennessee Virginia Marked.

Water tripoints

Twenty-seven tripoints are under water:

State 1 State 2 State 3 Water Notes
Alabama Mississippi Tennessee Tennessee River
Arizona California Nevada Colorado River
Arkansas Mississippi Tennessee Mississippi River Memphis, Tennessee metro area.
Arkansas Missouri Tennessee Mississippi River
Connecticut New York Rhode Island Long Island Sound The part of New York that is in this tri-state area is Fishers Island. It is the New London, Connecticut metro area.
Delaware New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware River Philadelphia metro area, at the east end of the Twelve-Mile Circle.
Georgia North Carolina South Carolina Chatooga River Located in river very near marker on dry land.
Idaho Oregon Washington Snake River
Illinois Indiana Kentucky Wabash River and Ohio River Evansville, Indiana metro area. See Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky Tri-State Area.
Illinois Indiana Michigan Lake Michigan Known as either the Indiana Dunes or the Michigan Dunes Area
Illinois Iowa Wisconsin Mississippi River Dubuque, Iowa metro area.
Illinois Kentucky Missouri Mississippi River and Ohio River Little Egypt region popularly labeled as a tri-state area with St. Louis, Missouri, Carbondale, Illinois metro area, and Paducah, Kentucky being its nuclei.
Illinois Michigan Wisconsin Lake Michigan
Indiana Kentucky Ohio Ohio River Cincinnati, Ohio metro area. The tripoint is near, but not precisely at, the confluence with the Great Miami River.
Iowa Illinois Missouri Mississippi River and Des Moines River Border with Lee County, Iowa
Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin Mississippi River La Crosse, Wisconsin metro area.
Iowa Missouri Nebraska Missouri River
Iowa Nebraska South Dakota Big Sioux River and Missouri River Sioux City, Iowa metro area.
Kansas Missouri Nebraska Missouri River
Kentucky Missouri Tennessee Mississippi River Three separate tripoints, due to meanders of the river (though probably only a single tri-state area surrounding them all). See also Kentucky Bend.
Kentucky Ohio West Virginia Big Sandy River and Ohio River Huntington (W.V.)-Ashland (Ky.)-Ironton (Oh.) Tri-State region.
Maryland Virginia West Virginia Potomac River Unmarked, at low water line, and almost always submerged.
Michigan Minnesota Wisconsin Lake Superior
Minnesota North Dakota South Dakota Bois de Sioux River Not directly marked and most probably within river.
Ohio Pennsylvania West Virginia Ohio River Technically the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey, although the actual monument is 1,112 feet north of the tripoint due to the tripoint's current location under water; Pittsburgh Tri-State.

Regions with no Tripoint

The following tri-state areas are also notable, but have no tripoint:

State 1 State 2 State 3 Notes
Alabama Mississippi Florida The Gulf Coast region.
Connecticut New York New Jersey New York metropolitan area. See Tri-State Region and New York Metropolitan Area articles.
Delaware Maryland Virginia Delmarva Peninsula
Illinois Indiana Wisconsin Chicago metro area
Kansas Oklahoma Texas The Liberal, Kansas area has a close relationship with the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.
Massachusetts Maine New Hampshire The Boston to Portland metro area; though the two are separated by New Hampshire, Maine was actually part of Massachusetts before becoming a separate state in 1820.
South Carolina North Carolina Tennessee The Spartanburg, South Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina, Johnson City, Tennessee, and Kingsport, Tennessee metro areas along Interstate 26
Vermont Maine New Hampshire Northern New England
West Virginia Virginia North Carolina Important section of Interstate 77 connecting Charleston, West Virginia with Charlotte, North Carolina; passes through Wytheville, Virginia
New York Pennsylvania Ohio Erie metropolitan area, a.k.a. North Coast and Niagara Frontier. Shares two tripoints with Ontario (PA-ON-OH and PA-ON-NY), both within Lake Erie.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tri State Corners in the United States". Jack Parsell. http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/parsell.pdf. 
  2. ^ Tri-State Peak at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
  3. ^ Eric Jones. New Hampshire Curiosities. Globe Pequot, 2006. p114-5.

External links