Survey Monuments

A critical step in any survey is locating the existing boundary monuments on and near a property.  A monument can mark the corner or property line of a parcel of land and can provide a starting point for performing a survey.

What is a monument?  It can be many things including:

• stone bound

• stone wall

• fence

• iron pipe

• a tree

• the edge of a field

• a road

The list is endless and from a legal standpoint, a reference to an abutter is also a monument.  That is why in our area there are many deeds that recite a boundary similar to the following: "by land of John Smith on the north, Jacob Jones on the west, Henry Smith on the south and on the east by the road to Smith's Mill."

This is legally sufficient, but extremely hard to locate on the ground.  Physical bounds such as stone walls, iron rods and stone/concrete bounds give the surveyor something tangible to work with, but all the information must be considered.

In a recent survey, the boundary was along a town line.  The town map indicated that the town line was marked north of the property where a stone wall crossed the road and south of the property at a monument at another road.   When we drove up to the southerly location, what we saw was a stone wall, but no square cut stone bound, the typical monument for a town line. 

We looked on both sides of the road and back into the woods for a stone bound, but found nothing. Examining the end of the stone wall more closely we discovered that the town line location had been chiseled into the face of the wall.

Not what we were initially expecting, but a monument nonetheless.

The ways that a property can be monumented are endless.  A surveyor must expect the unexpected