Linda,

I read a couple papers that describe the use of osage orange hedge
specifically as fencing and meant to distinguish specific boundaries.The
3rd footnote to the second paper (Hewes & Jung 1981) also references
several sources that note the use of ditches alone or ditches plus fence /
hedge as being used to demarcate legal property boundaries. Hopefully one
of these sources can be of use!



* Hewes, L. 1981. Early fencing on the western margins of the prairie.
Annals of the Association of American Geographers 71 (4):499–526. Hewes,
L., and C. L. Jung. 1981. Early Fencing on the Middle Western Prairie.
Annals of the Association of American Geographers 71 (2):177–201.*

Footnote from Hewes & Jung 1981:

Herbert G. Schmidt, *Agriculture in New Jersey* (New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, 1973),  p.73, cites ditches as legal enclosures as early
as 1730. Lewis Cecil Gray, *History of Agriculture in the Southern United
States to 1860*, Vol. 1 (New York: Peter Smith, 1941), p. 540, refers to
the occasional use of ditches and sod fences supplemented by small post and
rail fences on the embankments. Stevenson Whitecomb Fletcher, *Pennsylvania
Agriculture and** Country Life, 1640-1840* (Harrisburg:
PennsylvaniaHistorical and Museum Commission, 1950), p. 87, cites the use
of ditches with hedges in 1778. See also John A. Warder, *Hedges and
Evergreens: A complete Manual for the Cultivation, Pruning, and Management
of all Plants suitable for American Hedging; especially the Maclura, or
Osage Orange* (New York: Orange Judd Company, Agriculture Book
Publishers,Press, 1858),  pp. 174, 195, 201.

Best wishes,
Kate

On Fri, 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]
>

-- 
*Katharine Johnson*
PhD Candidate, Dept of Geography
Geospatial Data & Web Development Specialist
Map and Geographic Information Center
Connecticut State Data Center
University of Connecticut
[log in to unmask]
http://geomorphology.uconn.edu/research-group/kate-johnson/
<http://uconn.academia.edu/KatharineJohnson>