I’ve been meaning to post this for quite a while and have a few minutes.

One of the early-ish uses of heraldry in America that ought to be noted was the use of the Calvert and Penn arms on the "crownstones" marking the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the famous Mason-Dixon line.

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed the boundaries between the Penn and Calvert proprietaries in 1763-67.  They placed marker stones every mile along the way.  Most of these are simply marked with a P on one side and an M on the other, but every five miles they placed a "crownstone" with the Penn and Calvert arms carved on opposite sides.  There’s an article at the University of Delaware website (Delaware was part of the Penn proprietary) http://www.udel.edu/johnmack/mason_dixon/ with these photographs of the arms as carved on the crownstones:

http://www.udel.edu/johnmack/mason_dixon/mason_dixon_files/image014.jpg

http://www.udel.edu/johnmack/mason_dixon/mason_dixon_files/image015.jpg

Part of America’s heraldic heritage!

From one with ancestry from both sides of the line, Thanks!

Very interesting!  Thanks for the images.

—Guy

While I have read about the Mason/Dixon survey and their mile markers, I had no idea about the heraldry involved.  Very cool history lesson!  Thanks, Joe.  :D

Take care,