On this project, I was hired to find and mark the boundaries of a beautiful property in Damariscotta, ME. The landowner sought to harvest the mature wood on the property, which was an original lot to the town of Nobleboro, settled in 1788. This area was first settled by the English fisherman in 1631 and prior to that it was inhabited by indigenous people dating back 12,000 years (see Whaleback Shell Midden State Historic Site – Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust). The lot started at the Damariscotta River and ran 8,000 feet easterly but was only 360 feet wide. These lots, sometimes called spaghetti lots, were very common at the time of European settlement. The Europeans wanted to give each settler the best chance to have a little bit of everything in one lot, such as river frontage for travel, fields for growing vegetables, fields for hay, pasture for animals, and woodlots for firewood and other uses. While this accomplished its goals back then, it makes for a difficult boundary survey today.
The first thing I did was collect information from the landowner. Next, I searched the registry of deeds for any relevant deeds and plans for the property and the abutting properties. As with anything that’s 250 years old, sometimes things can become obscure. The landowner was not interested in a full survey due to cost, so they wanted a rough idea of the properties and then have a discussion with each abutter.
The deeds, written long ago, often describe trees that no longer exist, monuments such as rock walls or stakes that have decayed, and barbed wire. As a Maine licensed forester, I cannot survey the boundary with unknown sources, but I can locate old monuments and other indicators of a boundary, which can be quite a scavenger hunt.
In the end, the boundary was found to contain old rock walls, a cattle pound, barbed wire fencing, and some blazing. The excessive length of the property proved to be difficult, as the sheer amount of walking was challenging but fun. This was a beautiful lot with lots of history and a great story. The landowner was satisfied with the work, and everything was carried out as expected.
