Ditches were used and accepted as boundaries between landowners in VA. For instance, Eppes Island, Charles City County, VA was a 1635 land grant to the Eppes family, except that the two easternmost fields were owned by the Carters of Shirley Plantation. The Eppes bought the Carter property in 1824. Archaeological excavation showed the ditch which was described as a boundary in the deed (EPPES ISLAND HOUSE SITE, CHARLES CITY COUNTY, VA.
Edward F, Heite and R. Bolling Batte
Richmond, Virginia. Archeological Society of VA Quarterly Bulletin 23#1, 1968).

Osage Orange trees were there mentioned by Eppes in his diary as boundary plantings.

The legal language is quite specific and is not as amorphous as the attorney seems to think. A fence is less of a boundary than a ditch as it can disappear over time.

Lyle Browning, RPA

> On Jun 26, 2015, at 2:35 PM, Linda Derry <[log in to unmask]> 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
> [log in to unmask]