Byrd’s Line: A Natural History

In 1728, William Byrd, the wealthy, English-educated master of Westover plantation, undertook a journey with a troop of commissioners, surveyors, and woodsmen to determine the exact boundary between North Carolina and Virginia. Byrd recorded the journey in two classics of colonial literature -
The History of the Dividing Line
and
The Secret History of the Line
- which showcase in varying measure his keen observations of natural phenomena, his erudition, his predilection for exercise and sexual conquest, and his witty and elegant prose. Byrd’s Line
is Ausband’s dialogue with Byrd across the years. As Ausband slogs through the Great Dismal Swamp and the thickets and forests that Byrd wrote about, he interlaces his own adventure with quotations from Byrd.