The Cemetery Where You Can Be Buried in TWO COUNTRIES at Once
Deep in the woods on the Vermont / Quebec border, a 20-foot strip of mowed grass slices straight through headstones. More than 100 people are buried half in America and half in Canada — and it's 100% real.
Welcome back to Borderline, where we hunt down the places where maps get weird.
Most people think the US-Canada border is a big wall or a heavily guarded fence. In reality, it's often just... a lawn. A very serious, internationally-maintained lawn called The Slash.
And nowhere is The Slash stranger than in the border cemeteries of Derby Line, Vermont and Stanstead, Quebec.
1. What The Northern Border Actually Looks Like: The Slash
For over 5,000 miles, the US and Canada are separated by a 20-foot wide deforested vista. Trees are cut, brush is cleared, and the grass is mowed. This is so the border can be seen from the air and on the ground.
No fences. No walls. Just a line.
And in two tiny, intertwined border towns, that line goes right through a cemetery.
2. 100+ Graves Sliced in Half
There isn't just one cemetery, but three that make up this anomaly:
Lee Cemetery and Forest Lawn in Derby Line, VT / Stanstead, QC and Beebe Plain Cemetery.
Walk through them and you'll see it: Canadian headstones on the US side, American headstones on the Canadian side, and dozens of graves where the international boundary cuts directly through the plot. One foot in Vermont, one foot in Quebec. Forever.
Surveyors in the 1800s didn't let a little thing like a graveyard stop them from drawing a perfectly straight line.
3. You Now Need a Passport to Visit Your Own Grandma
This used to be a single community. People from Derby Line went to church in Stanstead and vice versa. You could walk across the cemetery to leave flowers without thinking twice.
After 9/11, everything changed.
Both sides are now heavily monitored by U.S. Border Patrol and the CBSA with cameras, sensors, and patrols. If your grandparents are buried on the other side of The Slash from the entrance you used, you technically need to go through an official Port of Entry, drive around, and re-enter legally just to visit.
Loitering in the border vista or crossing outside a port is illegal, even if it's just 10 feet to a headstone.
4. Tombstones Used For Smuggling
During Prohibition, this cemetery was a smuggler's paradise.
American bootleggers would leave empty bags on a pre-agreed tombstone on the US side. Canadian whiskey runners would cross at night, fill them up, and leave them back. No words exchanged. A literal dead drop.
That tradition continued for decades with cigarettes, drugs, and even people, which is why security is so tight today.
5. Buried on Purpose: Love vs. Bureaucracy
The best stories are the families who chose this.
Couples where one was American and one was Canadian, who were told they couldn't be buried together because they belonged to different countries, found a loophole: bury them on the line.
It was a final, beautiful middle finger to bureaucracy. If you can't decide which country we belong to, we'll belong to both.
Other families chose the line because they had family on both sides. In death, they wouldn't have to choose.
6. Who Mows An International Border? International Lawnmower Diplomacy
This is my favorite part. Who is responsible for mowing The Slash inside the cemetery?
The answer is both countries. The International Boundary Commission maintains the vista, but locally, it's an act of quiet cooperation. The American crew mows up to the line, the Canadian crew mows up to the line. Sometimes one town just does the whole thing to be nice.
The same goes for snow plowing. One wrong push of snow across the line could technically be an international incident. It's the most polite border dispute in the world.
This is the most American-Canadian thing ever: two countries arguing over who gets to do the yard work.
Why This Place Actually Matters
The cemeteries of Derby Line and Stanstead aren't just a geographical oddity. They're proof that lines on a map are imaginary.
Families, love stories, and communities existed here long before the border did, and they will exist long after. The border tried to cut this place in half and failed. People just kept living — and dying — together.
It's a beautiful loophole in a world obsessed with walls.
Have you ever been to a border town that feels like two countries at once? Let me know in the comments.
Want more places where the map breaks? Next week: We Ordered Pizza From Canada WITHOUT Crossing The Border... Is That Smuggling?
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Planning to visit? Please be respectful.
These are active, historic memorial sites. Do not attempt to cross the US-Canada border outside of an official Port of Entry. Crossing the boundary, loitering in the vista, or transferring goods across the border without declaration is illegal and enforced. The plots on the line are historic and not available for purchase. Check current regulations with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the CBSA before you go.
DISCLAIMER:
This video is for educational, documentary, and entertainment purposes only. All border locations discussed are historic cemeteries located on the international vista. Do not attempt to cross the US-Canada border outside of an official Port of Entry. Crossing the international boundary, loitering in the border vista, or engaging in cross-border transfer of goods without declaration is illegal and enforced by U.S. Border Patrol and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) with cameras, sensors, and patrols. We filmed this content in compliance with all local, federal, and international laws and obtained permission where required. Cemetery plots mentioned are historic and not available for public purchase. Please be respectful: these are active memorial sites.