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Date: | Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:01:10 -0400 |
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I am a grad student working on a late 19th century farmstead in the
District of Columbia that is now heavily forested parkland just above
the fall line.
One component of the site is an area of about an acre and a half at
the head of a south facing valley. This covered with a ridge and
furrow system perpendicular to the valley, not following the
topographic contours. Ridges are spaced about ten feet apart. Metal
detecting and limited testing found smaller machine cut nails and
plain wire concentrated on the tops of the ridges. The 1880
agricultural census schedule has the owner reporting the production of
grapes and sale of wine from the property. I am interpreting the
component as a vineyard. Although I have found references to vineyard
excavations in South America, I am not having any luck in the eastern
US. I am looking for references to similar features closer to the
site.
I have located two different types of survey monuments on the
property, a Seneca sandstone monument likely placed around 1863 and a
granite monument placed about 1892. Although about 1000 feet apart,
these markers are consistent with different corners of the property as
first recorded in 1843. Adjacent to the granite marker -about eight
inches away- is a flat circle 14" in diameter of smaller pieces of
fieldstone. I am considering that this circle may be an earlier
survey marker. I have not located similar circles at other property
corners, and as an indication of the technology level, a 1863 plat map
still includes a tree as the marker for one corner. I am looking for
information about the types and forms of survey markers to see if
similar features to this stone circle have been used elsewhere to mark
boundaries.
Any assistance greatly appreciated, thanks.
Tom Forhan,
University of Maryland
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