Monuments are important.Monuments are the cornerstone (pun intended) of the profession of land surveying. Even Moses had something to say about monuments, “Do not move your neighbor’s boundary marker” Our current laws regarding boundaries hold monuments above all else found in a deed, plat, or physical evidence. It’s our charge as land surveyors to have a high regard for the monument and we should not take them lightly.
I have the privilege (some may curse) to practice surveying in southeast Georgia in the Golden Isles (that weird marshy area you see driving down I-95 between Savannah, GA and Jacksonville, FL). The home of Fort Frederica, founded in 1736 by General James Edward Ogelthorpe; Jekyll Island, once owned by the Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Rockefellers, now a state park; the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC/Glynco); the city of Brunswick, once a birthplace of Liberty Ships for the Navy during WWII. The surrounding area is full of American history. The coastal area is a favorite of vacationers and retirees from across the state and country. Many of our residents would tell you that our area is overdeveloped. As an area land surveyor, I say bring it on.
As hinted, the Golden Isles have been here awhile and contain many parcels of land (approximately 1 parcel for every 2 residents) and subdivisions. Many of these parcels and subdivisions have been established for a long time and can sometimes provide difficult surveying, which I am sure can be true for many places in this country. Conveyances are made over and over again by a simple copy and paste from one deed to the next without regard to an updated survey. I am not saying these parcels have not been surveyed, because there is evidence that they have. Evidence not usually found as a recorded plat, but evidence of the highly regarded monument or in some cases, monuments.
This brings us to the monumental dilemma. “The surveyor’s most characteristic function is to remark and redefine the limits of a tract of land whose boundaries are already established on the ground or to layout new boundaries on the ground according to instructions from the client” Easy. Right? Find the monument. Mark the line. Draw a map. Sign your name. Get paid. Now we all know it is not really that simple. A lot can happen in 100 years. A lot can happen in six months. Sometimes that monument is just not found. Sometimes a monument is found, but not where we expected, more dilemma. What do we do now? Flag it up as found and move on? The monument holds, right? No, we are not going to just move on. We are going to take the time to begin looking at the supporting evidence. Does the monument found compliment, or agree, with other monumentation? Does it compliment physical evidence – fences, landscaping, house layout? What if the supporting evidence is still lacking? How far do you go, or more specific, how much more time do you spend looking for the complimenting evidence. We all know time is money. How much are willing to give up on this job?
“An important concept to understand is that a monument is not in itself a property corner; that is, if the monument is moved or destroyed, the actual corner remains where it was if its location can be proved. The surveyor, in performing a resurvey, should therefore find the monuments of the original survey or, failing that, ascertain as nearly as possible their former locations and base his measurements accordingly.’ Another important concept to remember is that the corner we are marking for our client is more than our client’s marker. We are also marking the corners of the adjoiners. How much care have we given to the rights of the adjoiners? And don’t forget, a right-of-way line is marking an ajoiner’s line. The city’s, the county’s, the state’s, the HOA’s. Most of time this line extends way beyond our client’s property. How much care do we give to that property line? I know, because I have seen it too many times how much, or how little, care was given to something whose very label, “right-of-way”, demands our care and attention.
The dilemma. How far do we go? How far is far enough? We cannot prove out shore to shore just to make absolute certain. You do have to stop somewhere. Where? How far? To the original marker. In my experience many times that is a tall task. I do think our procession has come a long way with surveying standards, education, and technology in making it easier for us and future generations. When we decided that we feel that we have made it to the original monument, that is far enough. But we need to be able to defend that what we found or what we sets marks the original monument, that point intended by the original surveyor to be the property corner for all concerned.
If I find your capped corner set as a replacement of the original corner, I am going to do my job to determine if your compliments the original surveyor. If I determine it does not, when you come back you will find my capped corner. Hear me when I say this, I am trying out here trying to prove everyone else wrong. I want your corners to work. It makes my job easier. But sometimes we are going to disagree and that is okay. Just make sure your monuments compliment the work of the original surveyor. And always remember, “the primary duty of a surveyor in resurveying a tract of land is to relocate, on the best available evidence, the corners and lines at the same places where the first surveyor on the ground located them”
Scripture Refernce: Deut. 19:14a (CSB)
Additional Quotes (in order presented) 1.Farris W. Cadle, Georgia Land Surveying History and Law (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1991), 395. 2. Ibid, 407. 3. Ibid, 398.
