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CTMQ > Everything Else > Geography > The Southwick Jog

The Southwick Jog

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TAKE BACK THE NOTCH!
The Southwick Jog, Southwick, “Massachusetts”
October 17, 2008

2017 Update: I just came back to this page and it occurred to me that I’ve never edited it or made it more current or anything. (Sorry, I can’t improve/enlarge the pictures.) Which is pretty lame of me, considering this is easily one of the most read – and commented on – pages on CTMQ. I love that last bit, by the way… You people actually sort of care about the notch! So let’s get to it…

I’ve been looking forward to writing this post for as long as CTMQ has existed. I bring to it a level of vitriol not yet seen on CTMQ. A historical thievery that must be righted! Take Back the Notch! Make Connecticut whole again!

Confused? Here’s what I’m talking about, in convenient picture form – from the Massachusetts perspective:

Or this may help:

Or you can check out Google maps for another clear picture of this affront to all that is Nutmeg! How in the world did this happen? And when?!

Okay… the story has a few versions and it’s an old one. It has also spawned more than a few blog entries and Historical Society showdowns over the years. Heck, you can even buy shirts and hats and such demanding my home state takes back its dang notch. I’ve already ordered mine.

In my extensive research on the Notch, I came across Vol. 13, No. 147 (March, 1911), pp. 53-55 of Rhodera. I love this passage as it’s a nice appetizer for what’s to come below. Nutmeggers have been throwing shade as Massachusetts for this ridiculous notch for a long, long time.

I set out to explore just what Connecticut is missing by conceding this polyp to our northern oppressor. I crisscrossed the Jog a few times, seething with anger. A beautiful lake, a historical society museum for a Massachusetts town that should be, cheaper gas, liquor stores open on Sundays… Aaaargh! Who do these fake Bay Staters think they are?

“Entering Southwick.” Fine. Southwick …ShouldBeConnecticut!

All the facts below are from here. There’s no quick and easy way to tell the whole story, so bear with me. If you’d like more detail – and you should – click through that link.

The beginning (as far as white man is concerned): In 1642 Massachusetts hired two surveyors, Nathaniel Woodward and Solomon Saffery, to survey the boundary between that colony and Connecticut. However, the point they established as the western end of the line was disputed by Connecticut and ultimately found to be eight miles too far south. According to a pamphlet in the vertical file at the State Library (CTMQ Visit here), for the next 60 years, “surveyors hired by either Connecticut or Massachusetts set a number of boundaries favorable to the colony that employed them. The only result of these surveys was increased animosity between the two colonies. Even a joint survey in 1702 did little to settle the affair.

This bar should be in CT… but judging by their beer of choice, MA can keep just this little bit.

Yeah, so okay, Connecticut apparently stole a few towns from the dirty Massachusettans (I’m avoiding the insulting name we actually do call them – being a family blog and all) – “To complicate matters, the citizens of Enfield, Somers, Suffield and Woodstock, unhappy with Massachusetts’ high taxes, applied for admission into Connecticut in 1724. These towns claimed they were included within Connecticut’s original boundaries and were entitled to return to that state.”

The Southwick Historical Society Museum at the Moore House. Boycott!

Naturally, Massachusetts refused to give them up, but in 1749 Connecticut voted to acquire them. A verbal battle raged for years, reaching crisis proportions. Appeals to England were ignored, since that country was embroiled in the Seven Years’ War. “In 1768, Massachusetts laid formal claim to the four towns; however, Connecticut did nothing about the edict and continued to govern them.”

So half of our northern border was still a mess and we were about to fight the rotten Limeys. What happened after that?

Entering Connecticut at Granby… about 2.5 miles too far to the South! Take Back the Notch!

That’s just the beginning of the story… but CTMQ readers demand the whole story. Alas, there is an excellent telling of the story by one Reverend Edward R. Dodge. He wrote a nice 13 page piece of the injustice (he lives there… In the Jog), pieces of which I will excerpt, without his permission – because he’s a slimey state stealer, that’s why.

If one places his finger on the southern border of Massachusetts and runs it along westward, about midway he will come to an irregular place in the line, a dip into Connecticut territory, a “pocket” of Massachusetts surrounded on three sides by Connecticut. This is Southwick, sometimes called the “pocket” town, and sometimes thought of as Southwick, Connecticut, for obvious reasons.

Yeah. VERY obvious… jerk.

Me. Doing the “Southwick Jog.”

The Reverend,

“talked to some of the people whose families had lived there for many generations. Almost without exception everyone had a theory or story to explain the “pocket” town. One such story or theory says that the lakes and western land adjoining the lakes fall within Massachusetts control because the source of these lakes is the north lake which is unquestionably within the Massachusetts border. Thus it was felt that all the lakes should be within Massachusetts jurisdiction by virtue of possession of the source. Another popular story is that the early surveyors who ran the line were a bit under the influence of alcohol when they arrived at this point. Consequently, they laid the line too far north. Rather than go to the expense of running the line again, a compromise was made, giving Southwick some of Connecticut territory.

Crabby Joe’s about 300 feet from Connecticut (see the small green “Suffield” sign in the background – but it should be Connecticut. You think Joe is Crabby? Take BACK THE NOTCH!

See, I told you some people think that. The real real story is excellent, and really should be read in its entirety. Here’s another good excerpt:

“about all the[ surveyors] had to ‘go on’ was the Massachusetts Charter which stated that the southern border of Massachusetts ran west to the Pacific Ocean, …from a point three miles south of the most southerly branch of the Charles River.”

You see how greedy they are up there? Sheesh. So these guys DID get lazy in 1642 and took a latitude reading at the Charles, then partied it up on a party boat down and around and up the Connecticut River. They took another latitude, but were horrifically wrong, several miles too far south into undisputed Husky Territory.

Fixed it.

The border was disputed back and forth, year after year until 1695 when two dudes surveyed the land OVERLAND, the proper way, and found the 1642 lines way out of whack. The two states fought and couldn’t resolve the dispute. Woodstock was caught up in all of this, as was northern Granby, because residents were being forced to pay Massachusetts taxes. Finally, in 1702, Massachusetts allowed a Massachusetts guy to join a Connecticut guy in another border survey and those guys found the 1695 Connecticut guys to be dead on.

But lo, Massachusetts refused to accept their findings because, well, because they are jerks like I’ve said. The states continued to argue for several more years, and in 1707 they “petitioned the Crown” in England. (Risky for Connecticut, since they were pretty much the only independent colony in many ways, thanks to our groundbreaking 1662 Charter.

Note: The biggest boatlaunch area is rife with security cameras. Hmmm… You think they’re worried about the coming Take Back the Notch Revolution?!

1713, a new line was drawn. Several years of bickering ensued over the land Massachusetts was losing. Enfieldians and Suffieldians were caught up in this mess, not knowing to whom they were beholden. They would be part of Massachusetts for many more, tax-heavy years. Then, after some European and Indian wars, the Woodstockers whined to Connecticut and we said, “Okay you hippies, come on over to the good guys.” Enfield and Suffield followed suit. Massachusetts laughed and laughed.

They continued for years levying taxes and holding elections in those three towns. More wars, the matter of a little revolution, and now we were over 100 years of disputing this border. We also had residents of south Southwick, MA whining that they, too, wanted some of our Connecticut pie. They did this in 1774 and since Boston had a few other more important matters on their hands, they were like, “Whatever” and let it go.

>Boiling mad about this injustice at the beautiful ShouldBeConnecticut’s Congamond Lakes!

Now we’re up to (only) 1793 (!) and the Jog was still a mess. The residents wanted to be cool, but Massachusetts was tired of Connecticut stealing their land (as we did, according to them, already – so they weren’t relenting. More time went by and the craziness continued! Massachusetts proposed slicing the disputed land in half at the Congamond Lakes, but CT wasn’t hearing it. MA threatened to re-open the 1713 disputed land and demanded CT accept their proposal once and for all.

Check out this nonsense! That’s Two States Road (CT) in the foreground and Two States Avenue (MA) behind. They both go to the same beach. TAKE BACK THE NOTCH!

Connecticut was not frightened into accepting Massachusetts’ proposal and for several more years, arguments, replies, studies, reports, propositions, and counter- propositions flew back and forth between the two colonies. Finally, in 1804, an agreement was reached which seemed equitable to everyone involved. The southern half of Southwick was to be divided at the lakes, with the line running from the southwest corner of West Springfield, down by the lakes to the ancient south line of Westfield and then to the ancient southwest corner of Westfield. That partitioned the 2.5 mile area at Congamond Lakes with Massachusetts receiving 5/8 of the disputed parcel along the west shore and Connecticut receiving the remainder, along the east shore.

The territory east of the lakes was ceded to Connecticut, while that to the west fell under Massachusetts’ jurisdiction. Thus, after one hundred and sixty-two years of border uncertainty, the line was finally established.

A free paper serving both towns?! What kind of crapola is this? What do we care about what happens in MA? AARRGGHHH!

In the 21st century, the battle still rages. Some Connecticut residents with boats in the lake have been taxed by Massachusetts for their docking fees or something – Because Massachusetts owns the water. The New York Times explored this area in 2001. The Massachusetts towns are doing things to benefit them – to the detriment of the Connecticut towns.

On and on it goes. At least there are no such issues to the east over at the Longmeadow Baby Jog, which I also explored here.

…………………………………………………….

The majority of the factual stuff is from here. It’s an excellent read.
Another good one
MA borders, old timey style
Awesome geography quirks blog (links to the Jog)

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Comments

  2. Norwich Bulletin article

    Oct 22, 6:50 AM EDT

    ‘Notch’ dispute revived between Conn., Mass.
    Advertisement

    SUFFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A centuries-old dispute between Connecticut and Massachusetts over a border area known as the “notch” is heating up again.

    At issue: shifting water levels in a border lake, and how much Connecticut “notch” lakefront homeowners must pay their neighboring state.

    About 170 Suffield homeowners face bills from Southwick, Mass., for new dock and boat permits. The money will pay for police patrols on the lake.

    But Suffield officials say the lake has risen since a 1913 survey, putting its eastern side within Connecticut’s borders.

    Disputes over the notch, also known as the Southwick Jog, date to Colonial days.

    Massachusetts gained part of the area, which dips into the otherwise uniform border, in 1804 to compensate for losing several towns to Connecticut in the 1600s and 1700s.

  3. haha, awesome. Five days after my adventure, the dispute arises again! TAKE BACK THE 5 FEET OF WATER!

    And I’m disappointed no one has mentioned my Initech coffee mug or candy cigarettes.

  4. Thanks to this entry, I’m now perpetually looking for the notch. While walking the kids to school this morning I saw a car parked along the street with a Connecticut license plate (not something common ’round these parts) and stopped to make sure it had the notch. I’m afraid to ask what that says about me.

    Take back the notch!

  5. This page is AWESOME. So is the rest of the website, actually, but I’m commenting here to report on the progress of the “Notch Revolution.”

    There is now a group on Facebook called “Take the CT Notch Back” — ’tis a bit crude, perhaps, but nonetheless a wonderful addition to any Nutmegger’s groups list.

    I was going to mention the Initech mug and candy cigarettes, but I suppose I’m a few months too late.

    In the spirit of the Notch Revolution, I also think Connecticut should take back Fisher’s Island from those thieving New Yorkers. Look at its proximity to CT and NY and tell me we weren’t gypped! But that is another topic for another time, I suppose…

  7. Suffieldians might wonder why part of Route 190 was renumbered to Route 168 in 1975. The reason: a new interstate highway, I-190, in Worcester, Mass. The part of Route 190 extending into Southwick now had a numbering conflict, and as a neighborly courtesy, Connecticut extended the new number across the state line.

    If not for The Notch, Route 190 would have existed entirely in Connecticut, and would not have needed to change.

    For 50 states’ worth of border fights, see “How the States Got Their Shapes” by Mark Stein.

  8. I support giving Southwick back to CT, but I think the name Southwick suggests it’s a Massachusetts town — shouldn’t it be Northwick, CT? Maybe we should get the name change first and then use its name as evidence that it belongs to CT.

  9. I live in Granby, but the sales tax in MA is cheaper, but Cigarettes are more expensive in MA 8.00 a pack vs 6.00 a pack in CT, sales tax in MA is 5% and CT it’s 6%. Gas is .20 cents a gallon cheaper in Southwick. I love living in a boarder town. I drink in Southwick and if I get drunk I head on in to MA if the Granby cops are across the street and if the Southwick Cops are at hand I do the oposite.

    Why don’t you F’n bitch about long Island, that should be a part of CT not New York. F’n New York stole it from us. Why don’t you bitch about Cox cable only showing NESN on the cable and not YES network. Simsbury has Comcast Communications and they provide for free both YES and NESEN. Barkhamstead just to the west of us has Charter Communications and they have both NESEN and YES networks for free. But here in F’n Granby all we get is NESEN and even if we buy the “Extra Innings” from MLB all the Yankee games are blocked out because MLB F’n Sucks beyon belief.

  10. As I tell my kids, it’s a tab to keep Massachusetts from sliding into the ocean!

  11. Man, your use of vernacular and asides makes your writing one hell of a slog. I was about to give up but thankfully I came to the slide show by the school kids. You could learn from them, I did

  12. Clean it up,

    Thank you for your constructive criticism. I just get so upset about this incursion into CT that it negatively affects my writing skills.

    I’m just flattered you think I’m a “real” or “professional” writer of some sort. So thanks for the unintentional compliment.

  13. Connecticut should go all the way to the Hudson River too! Come to think of it it should go all the way to Ohio! New York took a bigger nibble than Massachusetts did!

  14. Daner is right. I’ll explore this further in a future post about Connecticut’s Western holdings, notably in Ohio (Cleveland was founded by a Canterbury guy named Cleaveland and Case Western U and Reserve Insurance companies are vestiges of Nutmeg past) and Pennsylvania (“We” shed blood there over land that used to be Connecticut – near Scranton).

    Good stuff.

  15. Steve? (author). Dude, sounds like you’ve had a bit too much coffee. Calm down. The way you slam people living 10 miles away from you!! Sheesh. I also notice that you frequently use all the resources in the ‘Wick. There’s nothing so grand in Granby, is there? Get a life and leave us alone.

  16. It amazes me that people apparently think any of my “anger” on this page is even remotely serious.

    I’ve been to Southwick once in my life, for a grand total of 15 minutes, for the sole purpose of taking stupid pictures for this page.

  17. Steve. Serious or not, there’s a lot of nasty name calling in this blog. What are you 14? you could just as easily made your “funny” points without all the MA slamming?

  18. you did not do enough research! coming to mass. from crabby joes end you will notice the sign does not say WELCOME TO SOUTHWICK it says WELCOME TO CONGAMOND MA.the original town for the lake are is congamond. i have lived in congamond ma. for 50+years. i also live within 200 feet of the lake. but i use zip code for southwick. the post office in congamond burnt in early 1950s and we used southwick post office. i live in congamond you are mistaken about which town the lakes are in. there are signs in suffield and granby ct. stating 5 to 7 miles to congamond I love southwick and i love congamond .so look and research.

  19. Linda “got” me. I only made the horseshoe drive around the lakes in a clockwise fashion once. I’m sorry I didn’t turn around and do it in the other direction to see the sign she mentions.

    But this all sounds like distraction to me. Take back the Notch!

  20. F Massachusetts and F everyone who doesn’t like the language on this blog. Take back the F’in notch!

  21. I grew up in Granby and my family owned a house that boarded the *SPITS* notch. They should give it back, it is a travesty. I hope that they shut down that bar in the first picture as well…it is a dump. Anyways…take back the lake and our land. As for lower taxes…drive a couple miles further than the McDonalds, and the gas is actually cheaper still than the citgo.

    TAKE BACK THE NOTCH!!!!

  22. I was curious about that notch, so I turned to Google and stumbled on this little gem of an article. (I’m in a bit of a generous mood, I suppose.) I’m amazed at how desperately the “author” (Again, generous) is lacking a LIFE!!! It’s especially amusing as I watch the myriad of CT plates that flock to their northern neighbor to happily take financial shelter at MA’s gas pumps, and whose Sunday drives meandor in a northerly direction; passing bottles of spirits displayed through glass store-fronts behind the locked doors of various CT business establishments to the solace of MA where those same spirits are available for purchase. Even his so called complaints about this travesty are void of all substance since I can find no true damages or injustice resulting from the placement of the southern border of his northern neighbor. Perhaps if the “author” wrote this out of pure boredom, I could give him some suggestions for spending his free time. Schooling, perhaps!!

  23. I wonder… would the world be a better or worse place if everyone had the sarcasm gene? I don’t know… I kind of like that folks such as GetALife have absolutely no sense of self-awareness, irony or sarcasm.

    My word.

  24. Invariably, when one fails to summon a convincing contradictory argument, on most occasions they simply resort to insults, fiction, or both. Of course, there are those who do possess a sense of self (or possess self-awareness, since there is no such thing as a “sense of self-awareness”) who can simply admit when they are wrong. The “author” evidently has excluded himself from the latter, more exclusive group. Steve mentions irony and I assume his implication is that his blog is entirely ironic. If so, then I appreciate the additional evidence that the “author” has no life, since it’s rare that one devotes such resources and enthusiasm, complete with a field trips and photos, to a cause in which they truly have no interest. Finally, Steve feels I have no sense of sarcasm. I fear that Steve may either need the link to dictionary.com, or perhaps to simply learn to comprehend what he reads.

  25. Having grown up just east of the jog/notch in Longmeadow, MA just north or Enfield, CT, this article is a welcome fun way – and great way to tell an untold/little known piece of history (for the love of jeezum, GetaLife, your name is a self-defining prophecy; it’s a fun, OBVIOUSLY sarcastic take on land-battles thru the ages).

    For the record, if you zoom way in on the maps, you’ll notice Longmeadows east/west boundary line is a little more south than the rest of the MA/CT latitude boundary. Kind of the mini-Jog of sorts. when you got Enfield, I think Longmeadow just told the Enfieldians to ‘Trust us, we know where to put the line!” Ha-ha, more land for Mass… ;P

  26. Seriously to anyone who took Steve’s Mass-slams seriously: COME ON: The dude did wisps of steam coming from his head; that is a cartoon tool, HE’S KIDDING, IT IS A JOKE (and, it is funny). Though, if you still feel like it’s too darn serious, I’ll pass on the address to Warner Brothers for you; I know this coyote that is always trying to kill a poor defenseless road runner…

  27. I say lets settle this the old fashioned Yankee way—with muskets and cannons. Both states will do battle using weapons from the Revolutionary War era. Let the battle begin!!!

  28. And there is no interference from the neighboring states nor the King (Federal Gov.). The Nutmeggers will fight and take back the notch that is rightfully ours. The ghosts of Silas Deane and Nathan Hale are with us brothers. We will not fail!!!

  29. Hey Steve,

    Great Blog. I love the comedy. I’m the guy you “borrowed” some of your material from (above)- and hey, thanks for not slamming me too hard. I wrote them many years ago.

    Please keep the Notch War going. It’s great PR for the whole area. Where can I get a T-shirt?

    regards, Your wacky Northern Neighbor

  30. Lmao, thats why i left connecticut. Bunch of whiny babies with nothing left to do but cry. The notch would never be so awesome if CT owned it. Its so funny how you praise the notch, is there anywhere praised like that in ct? Southwick is nick named the recreational town for a reason. CT has nothing to be even considered close! CT is nicknamed the state where you can do NOTHING. Everything sucks there, and everything you do can be claimed to be illegal in some way. I was born in connecticut and I wish my family left too, cuz i hate going back there. I’d rather be a Mass**le than a Connecti*unt! put that on a T-shirt

  31. Gee, as much as I found the post itself amusing, I found reading the comments that followed even more so! Kudos to you for getting people to sit up, pay attention, and then take the time to write a comment – whether they were way off base or not!

    As for the “Notch” itself, I think having a line jog in a bit makes a more interesting boundary than a simple straight line would regardless of who (or is that whom?) owns the land contained in said “Notch”. We should thank Massachusetts for giving us a bit of distinction rather than try to take it back. At least in my humble opinion!

    Finally, as for me, my favorite post of yours remains that of the East Thompson Train Wreck – talk about making something out of nothing (as in “move along, move along, nothing to see here”). That was a brilliant CTMQ post but I’m afraid it wouldn’t inspire such zealous comments as those found here!

  32. As my family’s genealogist, I have done many many hours of research concerning Connecticut. In “Andrew Moore of Poquonock and Windsor, Connecticut and His Descendants” by Hon. Horace Moore published in 1903, I came across a reference to the notch:

    pg 24 “Joseph Moore born Simsbury, Conn. 21 July 1720; married Mary, daughter of Thomas and Miriam (Buel)Stevens. Mary was born 3 May 1720 Simsbury.
    pg 25 Joseph Moore and Micah Miller presented a memorial in 1773 to the Connecticut Assembly, showing that they were settled on land lying North of Simsbury, South of Westfield, Mass., and West of Suffield, Conn. They were in a sort of “no man’s land” and asked to be annexed to Conn.. The Assembly annexed the land in question, making it a part of the town of Simsbury and the Society of Salmon Brook. After a long contest this land finally went to Massachusetts and is now represented by the notch taken out of the State of Connecticut where the boundary line of Massachusetts “Comes me cranking in and cuts a monstrous cantle out.””

    There were ALOT of Moores born, raised and died in “Southwick, CT”

    Take back the Notch!

  33. Oh yeah! Long ago much of Southwick was called “Mooretown”!

    And many of these Moores went to the “Western Reserve” or “Connecticut Reserve” or “New Connecticut” in northeastern Ohio after it was surveyed in 1796.
    One of them, Roger Moore, Joseph’s son, and captain in the army during the War of the Revolution, bought five lots totalling 944 acres in Mantua Township and Aurora Township, Ohio in addition to 208 acres of his father Joseph’s in Salmon Brook and 175 acres in Granby. Roger died on his land in Southwick, MA 26 June 1838.

    Take back Ohio!

  34. CONQUER CONNECTICUT!
    Southwick should be our base to conquer all of connecticu*t! I’d use the real term we use for the tiny smear on the map of our great country but this is a family page.

    Why?
    *You don’t even have a real city, why should there be any states between Boston and NYC? Honestly.. Hartford? *New Haven? are you kidding?
    *You don’t even have a sports team. Redsox? Yankees? Patriots?
    *You supported ENGLAND in the war of independence! New LONDON? SUSPICIOUS!
    * What’s with that little notch you STOLE from New York? Time for Greenwich to start paying New York City Taxes since that’s where they all work.

    KNOW ALL YE MEN BY THESE PRESENTS I HEREBY DECLARE:
    A Public Holiday April 13 to commemorate the removal of the Whalers Hockey team to north carolina leaving Connecticrap with no sports teams

    SECONDLY we want our four towns back STOLEN by the traitors to the American Revolution
    THIRDLY let’s even out our notch and move our entire border of the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts south.
    FOURTHLY, I propose we take all lands west of our most southern town New Bedford Massachusetts and seize New London, Hartford

    FIFTHLY, Everything South of the line from New London to Danbury is hereby ceded to New York.

    SIXTHLY, I propose a Yankees/Redsox demilitarized zone.
    SEVENTHLY, Back taxes in the order of $1 BILLION dollars to be payed by Greenwich connecticut to New York City and everyone’s firstborn to The Glorious, and Holy Commonwealth of Massachusetts Land of our Forefathers, Founders and PATRIOTS!
    FINALLY, the name CONNECTICUT wiped from our history books, it’s lands salted, it’s people driven from the earth. The Lamentation of it’s women will be music to our Bostonian ears.

    DeLinda Connecticrumb!

    Down with Conencticu#t

  36. Take back the Notch? Probably would have been a good idea during your one and only 15 minute visit to ask if the Notch wanted to be taken back? Our recreational town is way too awesome to be a part of lame old CT! The land serveyors did mess up because they were having too much fun here! But it’s a cute little dream you have there :)

    p.s. yes Joe really is crabby

  38. I grew up and currently reside in Southwick and it’s amazing how on the up and up Southwick folk are compared to how naive, snobby and all around bogus 95% of CT residents in the towns around us are. Bunch of rich kid custies. So no we don’t want to be part of your bunk ass state. Southwick truly is the best part of CT and that’s only because it’s in MA. Hahaha.

  39. And LOL at all the butthurt connecticunts cryin on their preverbial bawls ‘take back the notch! Take back the notch!’ Like it will somehow make their shit lives any sunnier. XD

  40. This guy’s high. I’ve lived in southwick all my life so did my parents and there parents. There is no way ct will ever take back southwick. So stop ranting and raving. Sunshinedaydream413 hit the nail on the head.

  41. Steve, loved your article! Great stuff! But if you think Mass. hanging onto the Notch is large, how about the French? Those guys are still hanging onto two little islands just off the South Shore of Newfoundland – St. Pierre and Miquelon. It even has an “international airport,” cheap booze, and hilarious smuggling by fishing boat from and to Newfoundland (admittedly an art form over there).

    When Charles de Gaulle flew to Montreal to deliver his famous (infamous?) “Vive le Quebe libre!” speech from the balcony of the Montreal City Hall with an approving Mayor Drapeau and Quebecois politico hangers-on clapping, all to a roaring crowd, his airplane from Paris landed at Ste.Pierre first – just to show the French flag and demonstrate that France still exists in North America, Wolfe and Montcalm shoot-outs notwithstanding. Then on to Montreal. The “English” in Ottawa were not amused – and cancelled his State visit. Charlie flew back to Paris in a huff, never to return. The islands remain proudly French, although the requirements for passports and visas remains murky. Besides, the smugglers don’t worry about it!

  45. I don’t know how I stumbled upon this page, but the comments are as funny as the post itself!

    I’m beginning to think you Connecicunts (with the exception of the author) don’t have a sense of humor.

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