Gore (surveying)


In old English law, a gore was a small, narrow strip of land. In modern land law and surveying, a gore is a strip of land, usually triangular in shape, as might be left between surveys that do not close. In some northeastern U.S. states, a gore is an unincorporated area of a county that is not part of any town and has limited self-government.
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 towns but would technically be in neither. Surrounding towns have been known to absorb a gore—for example, the gore between Tunbridge and Royalton, Vermont, was eventually incorporated into 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 are governed directly by the Land Use Planning Commission, a state agency. 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:
GoreCounty2000 PopulationArea in km²
Averys Gore, VermontEssex County, Vermont045.6
Buels Gore, VermontChittenden County, Vermont1213.1
Warner's Grant, VermontEssex County, Vermont08.2
Warren's Gore, VermontEssex County, Vermont1030.0
Hibberts Gore, MaineLincoln County, Maine12.0
*Blake Gore, MaineSomerset County, Maine0
*Coburn Gore, MaineFranklin County, Maine0
*Gorham Gore, MaineFranklin County, Maine0
*Massachusetts Gore, MaineFranklin County, Maine037.3
*Misery Gore, MaineSomerset County, Maine0
*Veazie Gore, MainePenobscot County, Maine0