Tennessee-Alabama State Line

"Today we are leaving Alabama and going into the state of Tennessee. In 1663 King Charles II granted the Carolina Colony all the land starting at the Atlantic Ocean and running west between the 31st and 36th parallel. The 31st parallel is the bottom border of Mississippi below Natchez. The 36th parallel is now the northern boundary of North Carolina and Tennessee. When North and South Carolina separated they established the border between them as the 35th parallel. North Carolina released it's claim on lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, and this became the state of Tennessee the 16th state, entering the Union in 1796. So, the 35th parallel became what is now the southern border of Tennessee.

"John Coffee, supervised the survey of this line between 1817 and 1822, some 10 years later John Coffee negotiated for the United States in the Treaties of Dancing Rabbit Creek and Pontotoc Creek.

"Just for the record, I checked the almanac under Tennessee... the state flower is the iris, Motto: AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE, state bird: the same as Mississippi, the mockingbird, tree: tulip poplar and the state song: THE TENNESSEE WALTZ.

"Join us next time when we will visit SUNKEN TRACE. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."