DLR Stones Mystery

[manumuskin]

I went out yesterday to search for twelve granite monuments I found mentioned in a deed I downloaded online for Estelle Manor twp. out near Hunters Mill. I found eight of them.They were reported on the deed to be DLR monuments whatever this means? and were numbered on the Deed and on the stones as well. Here are the finds of the day.
Number 4

Close up

Nu
Number 5

Closeup

Not sure what number this one would be but it's after five. I believe it's six because I think I found the first three in order.

This can't be 6 because it was more then one stone past 5 so i think this is 9

closeup

This one took a few minutes,very nice stone but shorter and under a laurel sprig.It's 11

closeup

13

closeup

No inscription but I think it was 14

Almost forgot to slide this broken one in there.I think this might be 7 but no inscription and I have to go through the gpx file to identify some of the unisnscribed stones.

Now the mystery is this.I downloaded a few other deeds as well and they also mention these DLR stones as well.I plotted two one of which was in the middle of First ave and of course was not there and another further on the same survey also not there but in the woods along a ditch with some very old blazes so I believe that one was taken. Now there was another one that I could not determine the POB because the intersection it is at does not exist nor ever has.One road does and is an old woods road but the other road that should intersect it dead ends over a mile before it reaches the other road so it is an intersection that never happened and I can't pinpoint the exact spot the intersection was supposed to be so I read the deed carefully and picked the corner off the tax overlays where the DLR monument should be and when i got there the overlay was dead on.This DLR monuments was not a stone however but a flower pot shaped very old concrete monument with a lot of stone in the matrix.This was next to an obviously old but man made dug hole about 2 ft deet and ten ft across.This was DLR 89, the two down close to First ave were 90 and 91. So the mystery is how many DLR stones might there be out there? I found many between numbers 4 and 13 and then a couple miles away we have 89, could there be possibly 70 or even more stones out there? Does anyone happen to know what DLR stands for? I think I"m going to be spending some time in these very nice and very open oak woods and nice cedar sprinkled clear sand bottomed stream swamp.There must be more stones!

 

[Teegate]

Nice finds! I see at least one is cracked. Now to solve the mystery!

 

[Teegate]

DLR in surveying is Director of Land Records. Found that on Google. So maybe something like that.

 

[manumuskin]

PS
The surveyor must not have been a geologist as well.The stones are not granite as specified on the deed but obviouly sedimentary in nature and appear to be an extremely fine grained sandstone or possibly a shale.Kind of a grayish green in color.Very nice stone.

 

[manumuskin]

Got done hoot owl at 8 am and head bobbing the keyboard now but am going to look for more deeds in this area when i awake.I believe there must be many more nice stones in them thar woods. Might be a nice project this winter.Interested?

 

[Teegate]

Could be Department of Land Resources? Is there Federal land near it?

 

[Teegate]

Might be a nice project this winter.Interested?

Sure

 

[manumuskin]

By the looks of my tracks I didn't find the 4th 8th and 11 th in my plot but I numbered them on my plot by the number station the were on the survey and the numbers do not match the numbers on the stones so since the first stone was inscribed with a four I missed 7,12 and 15 as the inscriptions would read.There was also a concrete 30 ft from the last stone which i did not find.The stone i believe was missing,the concrete I did not look for since it was i n a patch of some of the nastiest briar impregnated laurel I have seen. I looked into the tangle and said to myself concrete is not worth it,not if there was another stone I"d of been the woods biggest lawn mower.I already look like I"ve been weed wacked by Smilax! I"m a poet and didn't know it!

 

[ecampbell]

Number 11 looks like it was sawn and then fractured. What is the date of the deed?

 

[manumuskin]

recorded 8-14-2007

 

[ecampbell]

When do you suppose the stones were placed? Is the sandstone something that would be found in the area?

 

[Jerseyman]

Al:

I think you'll find that DLR stands for "Daniel L. (Lake) Risley," who owned much land in Atlantic County.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[Teegate]

Thanks Jerseyman!

 

[manumuskin]

Al:

I think you'll find that DLR stands for "Daniel L. (Lake) Risley," who owned much land in Atlantic County.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

Thanks Jerseyman! That might help in the search for the rest of them!

 

[manumuskin]

When do you suppose the stones were placed? Is the sandstone something that would be found in the area?

Ed
I really have no info on that at all.The deed was recorded in 2007 but thats just when it was last surveyed and I"m sure the survey was only a small portion of the original property.Surveyors for the most part quit using stones around 100 years ago and went to using concrete monuments.Probably easier to carry in concrete and mix on the spot? Or maybe easier to make at the office then to run around looking for stone? and no the stones are not native to south jersey.The stone had a greenish grey cast and were a fine grained sandstone or possibly shale with no larger grains in the matrix at all.It looked sedimentary with no metamorphism from heat and pressure.Basically a natural concrete. Without slicing it and studying the molecular structure unfer a microscope it would be impossible to tell exactly where it came from but if I had to guess I"d say Pa because of proximity only.

 

[manumuskin]

Had four stones to look for in Atlantic County today that I plotted from online Deeds.My count today was four for four. I started out in a piece of Nature Conservancy property on First Avenue and went in pursuit of the Marilyn Stone.It woulda been a hard find in thick brush and deep duff but the Nature Conservancy sign right next to it helped maybe a little bit.Here it be.

Next i headed out to the Tenth Avenue Whoop dee Doo and looked for two "Granite Stones" and found both of them.The first one was right next to a concrete monument and in thick laurel.I had to cross a line of false posted signs that soon after passing i found out why.A deer stand and nice metal ladder hidden in the laurel.He obviously wanted to scare intruders off.I was hoping on meeting up with the poster so I could explain how it is just as illegal to post land you don't own as it is to trespass on land you don't own but no such luck. Here is the first stone and it looked vaguely familiar but it didn't sink in till i got to the next one.

The next one was a thrash through some thick laurel and then into some beautiful open oaks,some quite large.This stone was within 50 yards of a house and i was plainly visible in the woods,I was on the state border but still i was edgy being in site of someones back window.I didn't want to stomp around too much in case there were dogs in the yard and was about to beat a retreat when I looke about forty feet east and seen a white square ibject. A monument or a box? It turned out to be a monument with a Stone right next to it.These Granite stones were actually a greenish slate I believe,definitely not granite.When I walked up to it it became apparent why the first one looked vaguely familiar.Check it out and ytou'll see why.The first one was blank though.

A side view

And then off to Great Egg country for what was listed as another granite monument.I was 140 ft off on this one and if the woods were not very open and I spotted a preserve sign (I was on private property thinking I was on the line and was 140 ft too far north) I walked over by now hoping for another DLR monument and if this is a granite monument I"m Donald Trump. Looked like good old jersey sandstone with a touch of iron in it to me.
Not a bad day.Very hard seeing the GPS.I have to have scar tissue removed from both fake lenses I got two years ago from cataract surgery.Left one is like looking through a loogie.Right one is just a light fog.That and old age makes it very hard to see fine print.