Joseph S. Harris and the U.S. Northwest Boundary Survey, 1857-1861

"Good fences make good neighbors" comes from Robert Frost's poem Mending Walls which relates to traditions and rituals antedating the Romans. The god of boundaries, which they named Terminus, was not invented by the Romans, but he became one of their important household gods. Annually Terminus was honored in a ritual which not only reaffirmed boundaries but which also provided the occasion for predetermined traditional festivities among neighbors.