Three States Cornerstone

It stands about 1.2 miles by trail from the national park visitor center, at roughly 1,990 feet, where a second plaque marks the Royal Colonial Boundary of 1665. The line was argued over for a century. When Virginia sued Tennessee in the Supreme Court, it claimed the old royal charters should govern rather than the compromise line both states had adopted. In 1893 the justices held otherwise: both legislatures had ratified the survey and reported it to Congress, which counted as consent, so the line stood even if the original survey had erred.

What the plaque says

Three States Cornerstone The cornerstone for Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee is on Three States Peak. The first Virginia - North Carolina (later Tennessee) boundary at this point was surveyed in 1779 by Dr. Thomas Walker and Col. Richard Henderson. The present line and corner were established by compromise following a controversy in 1802. A Supreme Court decision in 1903 finally approved the location.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, and the Wilderness Road — steps away
  The Claiborne County town below the notch in Cumberland Mountain where Daniel Boone's axmen widened the Warriors' Path into the Wilderness Road in 1775, now bypassed by a tunnel.

More markers nearby

• Lincoln Memorial University — 1.4 mi
• Lincoln and Cumberland Gap — 1.5 mi
• Yoakum's Station — 10 mi
• Barren Creek Dam Failures — 13 mi