Linda,

It's probably time to find yourself a new lawyer ... the ditch is one of 
the oldest forms of recognized boundary in common law ... their 
venerable origin (in western law) is the Neolithic hill-forts of Europe 
that were encircled by defensive ditches ... that became castles 
encircled by moats ... so don't call yours a "ditch" but think of it as 
the "moat" surrounding a lord's castle ... the bois d'arc (or privet) 
hedges (or the stone walls thrown-up around a farmers field) were all 
tantamount to the castle wall.

If your lawyer can't make a case for a plainly evident ditch, that is 
actually underpinned by on-the-books legislation, then I'd begin 
suspecting he's "in the pocket" of the other side!

Regards,
Bob Skiles

On 6/26/2015 1:35 PM, Linda Derry wrote:
> Histarchers,
>
> I need your help. There is a cemetery in our archaeological park that was
> established by the Alabama legislature in 1851 but we can't find any legal
> records that describe the boundaries.  However there are historical records
> (newspaper reports mostly) that say that the cemetery was "surrounded by a
> ditch" and a few years after it was created, an osage orange hedge was
> planted just inside the ditch.
>
> Today, the ditch is still very apparent, and there are a few  aged  osage
> orange trees too.
>
> Our attorney has told us he does't think that he can use the ditch as
> evidence of the boundary, because of the word "surrounds" since, as he
> says, "its like saying that  the Indians surrounded the fort  and that
> doesn't imply  they were establishing a boundary."  A fence he would
> accept, and he may consider the osage orange, but he doesn't seem to think
> we can protect the ditch from our neighbor's bulldozers.
>
> So, I am turning to you for help.  Are there other examples of graveyards
> that were enclosed by ditches, or documented  evidence that ditches were
> used as boundary markers.  I'm trying to argue that  historically ditches
> were just as real as fences in establishing boundaries.
>
> Linda Derry
> Site Director, Old Cahawba Archaeological Park
> Alabama Historical Commission
> 719 Tremont Street, Selma, AL 36701
> office:  334/875-2529
> park:  334/ 872-8058
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>