Brotherton Indian Reservation

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With the help of a member of this site I have been learning and also trying to determine the exact locations of the Brotherton Reservation track. It is pretty certain the stones on the borders were not placed there when the Indians were there, but sometime after 1802 when the 100 acre lots were sold to non Indian citizens, the stones, if any, would have been placed. Today, Jessica and I explored tract 29 which is the wooded area next to Mighty Joe's. This rectangular tract of land extends from the Muskingum Brook all the way past Springers Brook. In reality the lot is only 99.1 acres but that may not included 206 and Old Indian Mills Road, so it may be exactly 100 acres.

We were looking for a stone on the border and the walking was easy for the most part. Towards our destination the briers became really bad so Jessica stayed behind and I continued on and found the stone. This is not on the outer boundary of the Brotherton land, just on the border between two lots.

The sun made it hard to get a good photo.


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I will continue to add to this thread as I found more stones or other information I think you may be interested in.

Guy
 
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Teegate

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Teegate

Teegate

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All,

One of the corners for the Brotherton Indian Reservation is in the woods behind the Shamong sports complex on Forked Neck Road (formally Dingletown Road). After learning this I started looking through the information I had and came up with a survey of the property from years back and realized this survey matched up with the line. Yesterday, Jessica and I looked for these corners and I was quite disappointed I could not find them. I was looking for three monuments that should have been there and it seemed really odd that I struck out three times. So I came home and dug a little deeper and found a major survey error on the survey I had so I calculated on my own where they should be and we set out again today to look.


This is the actual location of the Botherton corner just a short distance in the woods behind the drainage basin at the complex.


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This is an original state Wharton monument on the Brotherton line.


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We also found the location for another Wharton purchase monument but it is no longer there. It is right along one of the hiking trails back there. It has been semi recently surveyed and is easy to see.


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There is one more in that area to look for and when I find it I will make a map showing you the exact corner location so you have a better idea where it is. And you may be interested in this tiny bit of information. The newer portion of the Shamong sports complex property was an original state Wharton acquisition, and Shamong wanted this Wharton property to expand the complex. So on 9/27/1997 the state traded the land to Shamong for larger amounts of property along Atsion Road to allow the complex to expand. Trading land is a very common practice which has it's good points and bad. If you live next to state land and think it will forever be woods you may want to think again about that.

Guy
 
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I had to go out and physically find the rest of the locations because of an error in the information I had. I was able to do that and here is a map showing the location of the Brotherton Indian Reservation line behind the Shamong sports complex on Forked Neck Road. I have made this using surveys and maps, and as I mentioned physically going there multiple times.


Brotherton_Shamong_Sports.jpg


Guy
 
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This morning I traveled up through the woods to the corner shown on the above photo. There is a stream just before reaching there and Jessica was not able to cross it the other day with regular boots. I figured I would do it myself today and while crossing that stream I fell head first into the water. Fortunately, my glasses decided to hang tight on one ear but my phone took a dive. It was not really that cold early this morning but I still sent a quick text off to Jessica telling her and saying I was continuing on. My second text less than a minute later would not send and a few seconds later the phone screen stopped working. For a half hour I struggled to get it going and finally realized I was getting cold and had to move quickly to finish what I had to do. My first find was this stone which after coming home it appears to be slightly off of the line.

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Next was this stone which is the Brotherton angle corner to Lot # 31.


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Then a Green Acres monument solidifying the line.


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And finally, the stone for the SE corner of Brotherton Lot # 29 and the NE corner of lot # 30.


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Unfortunately, these finds change the angle in the above map and tells me the bottom corner behind the sports complex is the adjacent monument further back in the woods. This proves that nothing is more accurate than field work.


By this point I was starting to shake and my hands were really cold. I had a 3/4 mile walk back and had to again cross the stream. All went well but I was concerned that Jessica might be worrying so I headed to Atsion and a state employee there let me use his phone to call my mom who contacted Jessica. When I arrived home I put the phone in front of the heater and it seems to be working well.

Guy
 
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