R and J in the USA

June 27, 2024

Lots of people stop here, the woman told us.

We had pulled over to the side of a house-lined street to take a picture of the Welcome to Massachusetts sign. A woman, her brother, and her daughter stood in the driveway adjacent to the sign, stopping their interaction to watch us as we approached.

She told us the people who stop in front of her house fall into two groups. One group is people like us who wish to take a picture of the state sign. The other, and bigger, group is motorcyclists. Massachusetts requires motorcyclists to wear helmets. Rhode Island does not. As a result, many motorcyclists stop at the state line in front of her house to put their helmets on when riding into Massachusetts and take them off when riding into Rhode Island.

People stopping is a common enough event that she and her neighbors are used to it. She, however, has a state line experience that her neighbors do not.

She does not merely live at the state line. She lives on the state line. Her house, and the majority of her property, lies in Massachusetts, while a corner of her property lies in Rhode Island. This novelty has one big practical implication – she has to pay property taxes to both states.