oddities...

[millipede]

There's so many sections to this website, and some of them seem similar so I sometimes don't know where the best place to put a topic is... where could it fit best you know... So, if by chance this could be in a better place I apologize.

We moved in to this 5 acres just over 2 years ago now. The yard is ALL hill and ALL rocky. It was also ALL wooded when we bought it.
Since then I've been trying to figure a few things out, some more strange than others.

While the place is rocky, most of the rocks are rough limestome or clay type looking rocks. Jagged edges and such. But you find an occasional rock that seems so much different. Edges are more rounded and they seem less brittle. There's one in the front yard that is flat enough in some places it would work well in a wall or something. But there's another place in the yard where there's a decent sized pile of rocks like that. They're spread out a little and covered with weeds and leaves so you have to walk right over to them to even know they're there. It almost makes me wonder if it was something from someone's yard many many years ago.

The yard goes up hill, then down, then up again. In that little valley, the lowest point in the backyard anyway, there's smaller hills... almost like big mounds of dirt that just don't seem to fit into the landscape. It just doesn't roll with the rest of the yard. And there's barely any vegetation growing there compared to the surrounding dense forest. It's just a bit more open.

Then there's a few small sections of the woods where ALL of the trees are curved... or bowed. They curve one way and then another. Just small sections here and there, but in those sections you don't find a single straight tree. These are all about 6 inches in diameter, give or take an inch or so. Could this just be how they grew while searching for sunlight?

And the most puzzling thing so far is some barbed wire I found here and there. Back in the woods, right near most of these other oddities... You'd find an area, oh let's just say 4' x 6' as a rough estimate, where barb wire was loosely wrapped around a few times sort of corralling it off. The wire was really loose so it wasn't even on there very well. But why would it even be there. There were at least 3 areas like this wired off. I just can't figure out what the purpose would have been. i know before we moved in people would hunt back there, but I can't figure it out.

There's a few HUGE trees here and there, but overall most of the trees are 8-10 inches in diameter or less. So I'm thinking some years back this may have been someone's farm land?

[suitcase_sally]

You say you moved to this place 2 years ago...did you purchase it? If so, you can get an abstract for that piece of property that tells every time it changed hands. You can pick up some interesting information from that because if it was ever logged or some such that info would be in the abstract. My abstract goes back to the late 1700's.

[holleegee]

Curved trees- When there is alot of snow sometime it bows small trees and they never straighted back up.

[millipede]

They don't get huge snowfalls around here that often... ice sometimes... but I suppose if they were young I could see that happening.

An abstract huh? The land and home were all financed together... I could be wrong but I think the person that owned it before owned the entire neighborhood and divided it all up. There were three 5 acre tracts for sale when we chose this one... a nice HILLY dirt road that we can't get the county to take care of

If the land was split up like I think it was, would I still be able to obtain and abstract on it and if so, how do I go about doing that? Can you tell I'm new to this home ownership thing?

I still want to figure out those odd mounds of dirt and the barbed wire. I may do some digging back there just for fun someday.

[Terri]

Some people collect antique barbed wire, did you know? I wonder if the old barbs would be worth something.

[foxtrapper]

Go to the local library and talk to the librarians there. There are old maps, old soil surveys, old photographs and such that cover your property. They can help you find them. They can also steer you to the local historical society, which will also have a lot of usefull information for you.

[suitcase_sally]

Our abstract was given to us by the seller. He obviously had it for a long time as it was worn. He bought the property around 1963 and we bought it in 1994. It tells of every lease that the land had such as mineral leases (a lot of sand in the area.) and also shows any easements granted (pipelines and such). Talk to a realtor about it, or the county register of deeds. They may be able to tell you how to get one. I own several large tracts of land and only have the abstract on one piece. It is very interesting reading. It tells that the piece was sold at tax sales a couple of times and one owner sold it then later bought it back. It tells that it was split off from a much larger piece on the north of me that is still owned by decendants of the original owner.