All,
Recently, a map was passed along to me and after looking it over I realized I had three stones to find, one incised with the letters JB. Looking the map over I was able to determine approximately where they would be located but it soon became apparent they were on private property. I then contacted the owner and was graciously granted permission to explore. At that point I started plotting them using all of the available info I had here or was able to acquire.
A little background. The stones are located in Bishop's swamp (sometimes called Vinicomb's pasture) on what one deed calls "Fast Land." I did not know what that really meant so I contacted Rednek and he sent me the definition. Fast Land is described as: land that is located immediately above the high water mark of a navigable body of water. It is obvious now to me that a navigable body of water can be considered anything that you could put something as small as a kayak in because the body of water near it is really small. And I have to believe that they call it Fast Land because while surveying across a swamp it is really slow until you get to the high ground. Just a guess.
Here is what the map says.
And here is how a 1909 deed describes the incised stone.
All the following hereinafter described tract of land, cedar swamp and premises situate, lying and being in the said township of Tabernacle, county and state aforesaid, and according to a survey made by Job Irick, Deputy Surveyor, 10 mo, 17th day A.D. 1829 in the presence of adjoining owners, is butted and bounded as follows. Beginning at a stone J.B. standing on a point of land and on the westerly side thereof, and on the the south side of a swamp, and runs....
As you can see the stone and the letters JB have been there since at least 1829 with JB most certainly Bishop's initials.
I spent a few evenings working on this and came up with the three possible locations the stones could be. Two of them were within 800 feet of each other but the third was much further. So I concentrated on the first two with the intent to return multiple times if needed to find all of them.
This morning Jessica and I headed out early and arrived to find hunters on state land nearby. Pretty certain they would not be a problem we headed into the woods toward Bishops swamp. The deed tells us the JB stone was not in the swamp and when arriving at the location this was true.
In less than 30 seconds I discovered the stone sticking up a foot from the ground. And on the side of it turned 90 degrees were the initials JB. Time has worn away the stone but the letters are there. Some other markings are below them but I have no idea what they are.
Letters JB
The arrow points to a yellow pin where I felt the stone may be. And the numbered points are from me getting GPS coordinates of the stone itself. They are about 4 feet away from my calculations.
The next stone was 800 feet away directly across Bishop's Swamp. And a swamp it was. There was a solid hard sheet of ice covered by a thin layer from last night freeze. Each step was a struggle and it was slow going.
Jessica texting in Bishop's swamp.
Unfortuanly, we were not able to find the second stone so very soon we will return. We then started our journey back a different route and the swamp was even worse. Jessica fell fully in twice and flooded her boots, her bag and her gloves. She walked the last half hour without wearing gloves.
But along the way we still looked for things we wanted to find.
Red cold feet.
Recently, a map was passed along to me and after looking it over I realized I had three stones to find, one incised with the letters JB. Looking the map over I was able to determine approximately where they would be located but it soon became apparent they were on private property. I then contacted the owner and was graciously granted permission to explore. At that point I started plotting them using all of the available info I had here or was able to acquire.
A little background. The stones are located in Bishop's swamp (sometimes called Vinicomb's pasture) on what one deed calls "Fast Land." I did not know what that really meant so I contacted Rednek and he sent me the definition. Fast Land is described as: land that is located immediately above the high water mark of a navigable body of water. It is obvious now to me that a navigable body of water can be considered anything that you could put something as small as a kayak in because the body of water near it is really small. And I have to believe that they call it Fast Land because while surveying across a swamp it is really slow until you get to the high ground. Just a guess.
Here is what the map says.
And here is how a 1909 deed describes the incised stone.
All the following hereinafter described tract of land, cedar swamp and premises situate, lying and being in the said township of Tabernacle, county and state aforesaid, and according to a survey made by Job Irick, Deputy Surveyor, 10 mo, 17th day A.D. 1829 in the presence of adjoining owners, is butted and bounded as follows. Beginning at a stone J.B. standing on a point of land and on the westerly side thereof, and on the the south side of a swamp, and runs....
As you can see the stone and the letters JB have been there since at least 1829 with JB most certainly Bishop's initials.
I spent a few evenings working on this and came up with the three possible locations the stones could be. Two of them were within 800 feet of each other but the third was much further. So I concentrated on the first two with the intent to return multiple times if needed to find all of them.
This morning Jessica and I headed out early and arrived to find hunters on state land nearby. Pretty certain they would not be a problem we headed into the woods toward Bishops swamp. The deed tells us the JB stone was not in the swamp and when arriving at the location this was true.
In less than 30 seconds I discovered the stone sticking up a foot from the ground. And on the side of it turned 90 degrees were the initials JB. Time has worn away the stone but the letters are there. Some other markings are below them but I have no idea what they are.
Letters JB
The arrow points to a yellow pin where I felt the stone may be. And the numbered points are from me getting GPS coordinates of the stone itself. They are about 4 feet away from my calculations.
The next stone was 800 feet away directly across Bishop's Swamp. And a swamp it was. There was a solid hard sheet of ice covered by a thin layer from last night freeze. Each step was a struggle and it was slow going.
Jessica texting in Bishop's swamp.
Unfortuanly, we were not able to find the second stone so very soon we will return. We then started our journey back a different route and the swamp was even worse. Jessica fell fully in twice and flooded her boots, her bag and her gloves. She walked the last half hour without wearing gloves.
But along the way we still looked for things we wanted to find.
Red cold feet.
