How State of Connecticut Lost a Piece of Itself : Maps: ‘The Southwick Jog,’ in the northeast corner has stirred much puzzlement since two surveyors in 1642 first drew the line separating it from Massachusetts.

If the map of Connecticut were a jigsaw puzzle, anyone would have a perfect right to think they had lost a piece of the state’s northern boundary.

But don’t start looking under the table. Your Connecticut map is correct and complete, though oddly shaped.

That glaring gap in the northeast corner is known as “the Southwick Jog,” and it has stirred much puzzlement since two Massachusetts surveyors in 1642 first drew the line separating Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“It originally was the southernmost reach of Westfield, Mass.,” said William Hart, a Farmington resident who has extensively studied the Southwick Jog, and recently wrote a paper about its origin.

While some Connecticut residents may think the gap is unsightly, Hart finds it fascinating.

“Actually, it used to be twice as large as it is today,” said the retired claims adjuster. “But there was a compromise reached in 1804, when the border between Connecticut and Massachusetts was more or less permanently fixed.”

State historian Christopher Collier said by all rights the Jog--a piece of real estate covering 2 square miles--should belong to Connecticut.

“If they had accurately carried out the intent of the original survey, it would be part of Connecticut,” said Collier, a history professor at the University of Connecticut. “But there was a series of inaccurate surveys and Massachusetts wound up getting the missing piece.”

According to Collier, Gov. Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered the 1642 survey to end a growing number of border disputes.

“The surveyors were supposed to begin at the southernmost branch of the Charles River and proceed westward,” he said. “But, instead of proceeding in a direct line, they elected to take a roundabout route up the Connecticut River, stopping at Windsor.”

As a result, Collier said, the surveyors were 8 miles south of where they should have been, creating a long-running dispute over the ownership of the towns of Somers, Enfield, Woodstock and Suffield.

Finally, in 1713, a new, joint survey was conducted. As a result, two boundaries existed for several years. However, in 1742, Massachusetts relinquished its claims to much of the disputed land.

But that state wouldn’t relinquish its claim to the tiny piece of land that became the Southwick Jog, after the town of Southwick was created in 1770.

“Massachusetts simply wouldn’t let go of the property,” Collier said. “Nobody knows why, exactly, but I think they felt they’d given up enough.”

Folks in the Jog--which still is part of Southwick--don’t seem overly concerned about the geographical quirk in which they reside.

Dennis Goldie, who runs a restaurant on the North Pond, said the issue used to come up frequently, but not anymore.

“For years,” he said, “everybody around here wanted to be part of Connecticut. But that was before Connecticut got a state income tax. Now, things have evened out.”

Lifelong resident Beth Gabioli said the reason for the Jog hardly matters anymore.

“My mother always told me the Jog came about because the surveyors had too much to drink that day,” she said. “Frankly, I kind of like that story. It’s as good as any.”