Gore (surveying)

Averys Gore, Vermont: a small area of land in the far northeast, shaped so that it cannot easily fit with any neighbors except another gore to the west.

A gore (or, sometimes, grant or purchase), in parts of the northeastern United States (mainly northern New England), is an unincorporated area of a county that is not part of any town and has limited self-government (if any, as many are uninhabited).

Historically, gores were generally the result of errors when the land was first surveyed and the towns laid out. A gore would lie in an area between two (supposedly abutting) towns but would technically be in neither. Surrounding towns have been known to absorb a gore—for example, the gore between Tunbridge, Vermont, and Royalton, Vermont, was eventually attributed to Tunbridge. Some gores have become towns in their own right, such as Stannard, Vermont.

Different states have different laws governing gores and other unincorporated territories. In Maine, all unincorporated territories (whether townships, gores, plantations, or grants) are governed directly by the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, a state agency.[1] They do not, therefore, enjoy the rights and obligations of direct local self-governance of a corporate Maine municipality, via local elections of town boards of selectmen, and town meetings that debate and approve the town budget and expenditures. Occasionally, a town will choose to become unincorporated after having been an incorporated town; a recent example of this is the former town of Madrid, Maine.

List

Some of New England's gores:

Gore County 2000 Population Area in km² (mi²)
Averys Gore, Vermont Essex County, Vermont 0 45.6 (17.6)
Buels Gore, Vermont Chittenden County, Vermont 12 13.1 (5.1)
Warner's Grant, Vermont Essex County, Vermont 0 8.2 (3.2)
Warren's Gore, Vermont Essex County, Vermont 10 30.0 (11.6)
Hibberts Gore, Maine Lincoln County, Maine 1 2.0 (0.77)
* Blake Gore, Maine Somerset County, Maine 0 <n/a>
* Coburn Gore, Maine Franklin County, Maine 0 <n/a>
* Gorham Gore, Maine Franklin County, Maine 0 <n/a>
* Massachusetts Gore, Maine Franklin County, Maine 0 <n/a>
* Misery Gore, Maine Somerset County, Maine 0 <n/a>
* Veazie Gore, Maine Penobscot County, Maine 0 <n/a>

* Not considered a census-designated place by the United States Census, but legally considered a minor civil division by the state of Maine

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Maine Land Use Regulation Commission
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