"Permanently Marked"

by Don Silvius

I am currently involved in a very visual project where we are taking satellite photos and overlaying the boundaries of the original land grants from Lord Fairfax in the 1700’s. This is a piece of history that shaped our communities and our infrastructure long before either existed; and actions that affect us today in many ways.

This project was started with the goal of creating historic “chain of title” for parcels of land from the original land grants through present day. Historians are doing this in many areas, and in the Shenandoah Valley alone, I know of three counties where such projects are in varying states of completion. Our project started in June, 2010, and as it is now late July, 2010, this project is still in its infancy.

However, our project takes a different approach. Rather than starting with the original maps, we are starting with satellite photos and moving backward by overlaying images of the original boundaries – an entirely digital process. Our neighbors ultimately have the same goal, but we are starting further down the road as far as available technology goes.

We are starting with one single land grant, and in looking at the satellite photos of this 1000-acre land grant and comparing them to the boundary on the original survey (yes, I do have that more than 250 year-old document at my disposal), there was something that amazed me. You can see the boundary from space!

Go to Google Maps and take a look at any rural location. You will see straight lines, angles, etc., that stand out on that image. These represent, in many cases, boundaries between the lands of various property owners over time.

How is this so? Think about it. You are a farmer in the 1800’s and you have forty acres. You want three quarters of that forty acres to grow corn, hay, whatever you desire. First, you need to clear the land of trees, rocks, any obstacles that impede your work of plowing and planting. It is difficult work, but eventually it is completed.

Of course, you have cleared your land to its boundaries and mark those boundaries with a fence – a stone fence, a split rail fence, it doesn’t matter – a fence. Over time, wind, rain, snow, nature itself deposits things around that fence – among them seeds. Those seeds grow into plants, shrubs, etc.., and eventually trees grow there unless you consciously prevent that from happening. Fifty years later, regardless of the construction of your fence, your boundaries are marked by the growth of these trees and shrubs.

From your perspective, standing on your property, you see a line of trees that is just your fencerow – or the boundary of your field or property.

In the early days, when the first settlers lived in the Shenandoah Valley, they needed roads (or probably more accurately for the time – trails) to get from one place to another. Being a part of land ownership, the early settlers more than likely traveled the boundary of their property and since boundaries separate one person’s property from another’s, more than one person or group of people rode that same boundary – or trail.

The most frequently traveled of these trails became roads and in somewhat recent years, they became paved roads. So now we have two ways the boundaries of the original (and subsequent) land grants were marked that can still be seen today.

Think about standing on your property and surveying it and seeing the fencerows and the roads along the boundaries. To a farmer or landowner, until the past 50 years or so, the only perspective you might think of viewing your property might be from ground level.

Think of viewing this same property from space, miles above the land with a clear view and through the lens of a high resolution camera. The detail that can be seen from space is extraordinary and these fencerows and roads are visible, and therefore, so are the boundaries of the original land grants from 200 – 250 years ago, as well as the subsequent divisions of those properties.

This is conclusive evidence that our presence on the planet leaves permanent marks on the land. Given the environmental impact of such events as the recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, this is a mild effect of our “development,” but sooner or later, we will see some catastrophic event caused by attempts to control the uncontrollable – our natural environment.

graphic: Photograph of Fiddlin' Carson Peters, 5-year-old performer and his band on stage in the Main Tent during Jonesborough Days, July 2009

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Don Silvius has been an ACR contributor nearly since the site's inception -- a musician, songwriter, historian, published author, genealogist and hi-techie who works out of West Virginia and his ancestral homeplace.