Friday, December 19, 2008

"Lots 1" as Jim calls it

So Jim promised you guys that I would post something with a map of our reconstruction findings and how they all relate to one another. Well here it is...sort of.


While we have about a dozen lots mapped in AutoCAD, only one can be correctly (we think) placed in line with the 1729 courthouse lot. Now there are some complications with some of the metes and bounds. Exact measurements are not always given. Sometimes we have to go and find lot X to be able to create lot Y. A deed might say that Lot X is bounded on the North by lot Z and on the west by lot F (letters being someones name).


Now the 1729 plat of the courthouse is 3 acres of land. That's alot of land for just the courthouse and jail. It's going to be awhile before we get a real clear picture of the layout. Of course, Jim asks me every hour or so if I'm done with it. Sadly, I am not.


What you see below is the courthouse lot and lot 37 attached to it. Lot 37 was owned by John B. Mills Jr. in 1806 (I haven't finished tracing the lot, there is confusion in when and to whom it was bought and sold previously to 1806). In the descriptions of the metes and bounds it states that the 5th line stops "at a stone marked No. 6 at the SE corner of the Courthouse Square." It also states that there was a granary to the east of the lot and that the 4th line ends at "the SE corner of a granary". While frustrating, these clues will help put all these lots in line with each other.


Question is...is the courthouse square the courthouse lot or the village green or the town square, all of which are mentioned in different deeds. Are they all the same area or is the Courthouse Lot to the west of the village green as it is today? Either Lot 37 fronts the Courthouse itself or the opposite side of the village green away from the Courthouse.
We'll figure it out one of these days...as the title of the blog says and Jim says, this is attempt # 1 of our lot reconstruction.

- Peter

No comments: