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Three-State Tripoints
The corners where three states meet
A tripoint is a spot where the borders of three states converge, and the United States has dozens of them - far more common than the single four-state Four Corners. Some sit on dry land marked by survey monuments, while many fall in the middle of rivers or lakes, since so many state lines follow waterways. Each is a small geographic curiosity where you can stand at the meeting of three states at once.
Among the best known is the Tri-States Monument near Port Jervis, New York, where New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania come together at the Delaware River - the marker shown here. Others include the point where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet at Cumberland Gap, and the many river tripoints along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri. Together they trace the logic of how America's state boundaries were surveyed and where straight lines, rivers, and old colonial claims happen to collide.