Heard about this little strip of land, Boston Crossing, on the radio while driving near it for Thanksgiving. Apparently it was a little slice of Massachusetts that (in the 19th century) was separated from the rest of the state by difficult terrain. At some point a small train station was built there, and it was a popular place for duels. You could get off the train from NYC, Albany, or Troy, cross the state line so no police could interfere, have your duel, then any survivors could jump back onto the train having committed no crime in their home state. It also became a popular place for (then illegal) prize fights as well: https://sportslifer.wordpress.com/2...e-change-to-obscure-hamlet-of-boston-corners/ A little more info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Corner,_New_York
Oh, so it's right by Great Barrington? (on the map looks to be < 5mi) That's hardly "isolated from the rest of Massachusetts"; the way they worded the article I was expecting it to be hundreds of miles over the NY border.
Take a look at the topology, no one's getting there on foot or horseback in a hurry. If it were hundreds of miles over the NY border, then it would be just another NY town. The point here was that it was a place in Massachusetts that no official could easily reach. It got even more complicated because Massachusetts quickly agreed to cede the territory to NY once it became infamous but that required an act of Congress and the bill languished for quite a while.
