Border Monuments 18 Inches Apart

Pittsburg, New Hampshire

The only road crossing between New Hampshire and Canada is marked with two identical obelisks, set into a single concrete base, 18 inches apart. There are two stories about the two monuments. One is that the Boundary Commission simply had an extra obelisk and decided to have some fun with it. The other is that two survey teams, one approaching from the south, the other from the north, arrived at the border and found that their lines did not match. Rather than split the difference, two markers were erected, in effect creating an Anarchy Zone of 18 inches.

The two obelisks are enclosed inside a fence, perhaps to stop people from wedging themselves between the markers to escape jurisdiction from both countries.