Blank Pennsylvania map

What the outline shows

The map draws the state boundary only. The north edge with New York is a straight line along the 42nd parallel, broken at the northwest by the Erie Triangle, where about 50 miles of Lake Erie shore give the state a lake port. The east edge is the Delaware River from the New York corner down past Philadelphia to the Delaware line, and the arc of the Twelve-Mile Circle forms the short border with Delaware. The south edge is the Mason–Dixon Line against Maryland and West Virginia. The west edge is a straight line against West Virginia and Ohio, with the West Virginia Northern Panhandle fitted between Pennsylvania and Ohio. Nothing inside is drawn. Press Capital to mark Harrisburg on the Susquehanna, in the south-central part of the state, not Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.

Portrait or landscape

Pennsylvania is about 280 miles east to west and about 160 miles north to south. Print in landscape. The rectangle then fills the page width and the Delaware River's course down the right side remains large enough to follow. Portrait would leave the top and bottom of the page empty and reduce the map by about 40 percent. The Susquehanna, the river most exercises use, runs diagonally, so it fits either way, but landscape gives the Appalachian ridges room to be drawn as parallel lines.

Five classroom exercises

1. Trace the Delaware River along the east edge and mark New York and New Jersey across it; then mark Philadelphia near its lower end.
2. Draw the Susquehanna River from the New York line south through Harrisburg to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, with the West Branch joining at Sunbury.
3. Draw the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meeting at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio, and mark the Ohio flowing northwest into Ohio state.
4. Draw the Mason–Dixon Line along the bottom edge and explain its history as the Maryland boundary survey.
5. Place Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Reading, Erie and Harrisburg, and shade the Appalachian ridges running southwest to northeast across the middle of the state.

How to recognise the Pennsylvania outline

• A wide rectangle with straight top, bottom and left edges.
• A wavy right edge, the Delaware River, that bulges east in the middle.
• A small bump at the top-left corner where the state reaches Lake Erie.
• A curved notch at the bottom right where the Delaware Twelve-Mile Circle cuts in.

Answer key and related maps

• Pennsylvania map — the labeled version with capital, cities and borders; use it as the answer key.
• Printable Pennsylvania map — the same outline with cities, county lines and the capital printed on.
• Pennsylvania county map — all 67 counties with their seats.
• Harrisburg — the capital, on the Susquehanna.
• Neighbours: New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio.
• Mason–Dixon Line, Ohio River and Appalachian Mountains.
• All blank state maps and the printable US maps index.