I own a piece of property in which the property line has been lost and is in dispute.

The property was subdivided from my property in 1885 and all the stone bounds have been lost; the references (large maple tree, cattle pass) are also lost other than general locations recalled from my boyhood. The surveyor is in a state of flux because of the last unknown measurement. As the lot is entirely surrounded by my property it does not particularly matter where it sits, I just need to know the measurements of the lot.

I have the deed measurements for four of five sides of the lot; it is odd shaped due to the old road and a drop off on the west side of the lot.

I assume that that the unknown measurement can be worked out mathematically but it well beyond my meager skills.

The measurements from the 1885 deed are 30' northwesterly, 114' westerly, 21' southwesterly, 75' southerly, thence northeast to the beginning. It is this last measurement (back to the beginning) that is important, as it defines the depth of the lot.

Can anyone help determine this last unknown measurement for me? Thank you so very much.

Assuming that all of the directions given are truly in the cardinal directions and not off by a few degrees, the answer is 165' along a heading 24.6 degrees. Put another way, to get back to the origin from the end of the last leg described (the 75' southerly leg), you would need to travel 150' easterly and 68.6' northerly.

Something like this?

https://www.mathsisfun.com/geo...ons-interactive.html

Multiply distances by 10

without actual bearings of the lines, it is impossible to get an accurate length. see, for instance, below. with just slight variations in the heading of the lines, there can be a big change in that final dimension. if they were all exactly "north" (0*) or southwesterly (225*), etc. then the dimension would be the middle one, right about 165'-0".

You said that you own it and that it was subdivided from your other property a long time ago, yet is entirely contained within your other property.

Why not just re-integrate it into your other property? Undo the subdivision.

I don’t know you are looking at it now, but if you want to sell it or transfer it just transfer a nice rectangle instead of all that nonsense.

Thank you all so very much. I am always in awe of the knowledge of the forum members; there is nothing that seems to be beyond the knowledge of the members here.

I believe that 165 or 166 feet is the accurate number and that example 2 of Yellow Jackets answer as well as the other two answers are what I remember from my boyhood 60+ years ago.

Unfortunately the property no longer belongs to me, it was split off from the original property in 1885 so I can't change the property lines, besides the new owner has no interest in selling.

Again thank you all.

I would get a good local surveyor and real estate attorney involved.
Pay for a new survey and have it recorded per your attorneys recommendation based on what you want to do with the property.

The surveyor can’t make that calculation and needs you to provide it ?

The county doesn’t have the documents from 1885 on microfilm ?

Do you currently know where any of the corners of the property lines with known lengths are? Does the 1885 survey give the area of the lot?

If you and your neighbor agree on the length and location of 3 of the 4 sides as well as the length of the 4th side and you know the square footage of the lot, then the location of the 4th and 5th sides as well as the length of the 5th side can be calculated.

Surveyor involved already.

The part of the County road that runs by the property is abandoned and the new owner has been blocking access to our lower pasture; that has been resolved but the property line in question has not. The surveyor has not been acting expeditiously so I thought I (through the help of the forum) would help him with the last number.

The county does have the original 1885 deed on microfilm that is why I know the original measurements (the original property was identified on a town map in the 1650's and parts of it sold off over the centuries). The deed is written in the most beautiful cursive writing giving measurements in feet but only general directions. I erred when I said it was contained within our property, it is surrounded by our property (three sides) with a now abandoned county road (taken from the our original property) running past it.

None of the 1885 boundary markers are there; they have been lost, knocked down, or disappeared over the last 135 years.

My neighbor and I have finally came an informal agreement about access to our lower pasture but we still need to finalize the lot lines as they are encroaching on our property by setting up a chicken coop and a storage shed, hence the need for an official survey.

A situation like this on a deed that old is likely going to take a lot of abstracting (research) and can take quite some time plus get costly. This could be a good part of what's slowing the surveyor down.

Thing of it is, a surveyor can't just go out and find called for monuments and call it good, regardless as to what a deed or previous survey says. Yes, you do have to take anything existing into consideration but it absolutely must be proven or the surveyors risks being liable for boundary disputes, fences/other improvements encroaching, etc.

Get with the company and just ask where they're at with the process. If they give a reasonable explanation then give them some more time. If not, it's probably time to contact a different company. Maybe talk to a few people in the immediate area. Ask if anyone's had a survey performed in the not too distant past and if so, contact the company that was used.

This sounds really interesting. I see your current location is not too far north of me but this property can't be in FL can it?

I'd love to hear the history of this piece of land.

The property is in North Central Massachusetts. On the state line of MA, NH, and VT

I was wrong on the date settled (I relied on my memory rather than checking the history book), the town was first settled in 1673 but the Indians drove them off. The property in question did not come into existence (or assigned as the case may be) until 1685 but the Indians drove the settlers off again. Upon the third settlement several years later the settlers were able to hold the land. The property has only been in our family since 1945.

The property has a very interesting history; a settler was killed in our front yard, another monument to a settler killed by the Indians is at the top of the road on main street. There were several mills along the brook running through the property. All in all it has an intriguing history.

That is very cool. Did I read your post correctly, you've sold the property?

I currently own the original homestead property but the land with the disputed property line was sold in 1885.

I am not "mathematically-adept" but am historically-adept, so I'm just ringing in to say: That's an incredibly cool piece of property, with the documented history.

I agree with Dennis. Very cool. I think it is really amazing and great that you still own it.