Agore is an irregular parcel of land, created as a result of surveying errors during land grants.^[1]

In modern surveying, a gore is a strip of land that might be left between surveys that do not close. In some areas ofNew England, a gore (sometimes called agrant) is anunincorporated area that is not part of anytown and has limited self-government.^[2]

Historically, North American named gores were most often either the result of errors from when the land was first surveyed, or Colonial eraland patents. A gore would be created by conflicting surveys, resulting in two or more patentees claiming the same land, or lie in an area between two supposedly abutting towns but technically in neither. Surrounding towns have been known to absorb a gore—for example, the gore betweenTunbridge andRoyalton, Vermont, was eventually incorporated into Tunbridge. Some gores have become towns in their own right, such asStannard, Vermont.

Different states have different laws governing gores and other unincorporated territories. InMaine, all unincorporated territories (whether townships, gores, or grants) are governed directly by the Land Use Planning Commission, a state agency.^[3] They do not, therefore, enjoy the rights and obligations of direct local self-governance of a corporate Maine municipality, via local elections of townboards of selectmen, andtown 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 ofMadrid, Maine.

Some of New England's gores include:

• Gaps and gores
• Gore (segment)
• Land surveying

• New England
• Surveying of the United States
• Local government in Vermont

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata