Participants will employ the tools and techniques of the 18th Century Surveyor and actively measure and map a parcel of land, then use these measurements to draw maps and write property descriptions inspired by historic maps in the Albany Institute’s collection.
Designed for adults and even younger learners (ages 10 and up), the goal of this interactive program is for participants to leave with a tactile understanding of the work that went into laying out boundaries and townships during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century.
The first surveyors in America arrived with the Jamestown Company in 1621. Given the goal of quickly settling Virginia and the vagaries of Royal Charters for Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolina colonies, surveyors were critical to establishing order in the colonies. The role of the surveyor was to transfer land from the crown to private ownership. The survey was completed using a compass on a staff, called a Jacob’s Staff, and a 33′ Gunter’ chain. It was the responsibility of the buyer to be the pilot, showing the land’s boundary to the surveyor and to hire two chain carriers. Once the fieldwork was completed, the surveyor drew a plat and wrote a description of the property. The survey plat and description were copied and entered into the county survey book, and the originals were sent to the Governor. Upon entry of the warrant with survey plat and description, the Secretary of State issued a land patent signed by the governor and marked with the colony’s seal.
Later as significant municipal buildings like Faneuil Hall, the Pennsylvania Statehouse, Carpenters Hall, and significant manor homes like Mount Vernon were built, it was critical that detailed and clear surveys were prepared to aid the architect not only in the design but also in the ultimate construction of these buildings. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington, himself well-schooled in surveying, commissioned a battalion of surveyors and geographers to map the terrain ahead of the army. A knowledge of the terrain, location of roads, fords, and various other aspects of the land was vital to the ability of effectively moving the army and wage war.
Michael Carver presents as a first-person impression of David Rittenhouse, noted astronomer, clockmaker, and founder of the US Mint. David began working as a surveyor when asked by William Penn in 1763–1764 to settle a boundary dispute with Lord Baltimore. Rittenhouse first laid the twelve-mile radius around Newcastle, Delaware (then a part of Pennsylvania) which forms the modern boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware. Rittenhouse’s work was so precise and well documented that it was incorporated without modification into the later survey by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon (England’s most admired surveyors) of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border. Later Rittenhouse would help establish the boundaries of several other states and commonwealths both before and after Independence, including the boundaries between New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Mason and Dixon began a survey of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border in 1763, but that survey was interrupted in 1767. In 1784 Rittenhouse and Andrew Ellicott completed this survey of the Mason-Dixon line to the southwest corner of Pennsylvania with such precision that over the course of this 196-mile border the line varies only ½ inch from the 43rd latitude line. All along this track, Rittenhouse and Ellicott set markers to record the position of the line. The final post set on the north bank of the Ohio River, was adopted as the Initial Point for the survey of the Seven Ranges and became the starting point for subdividing the public lands of the United States under the Land Ordinance of 1785.
David Rittenhouse made topographic surveys for roads and rivers, and he likely performed property surveys as well. He was the City Surveyor of Philadelphia for part of 1774. Several of the instruments made by David Rittenhouse show mechanical ingenuity. He is generally credited as the inventor of the vernier compass which compensates for deviations between magnetic and true (astronomical) north. He made and repaired instruments for George Washington. Benjamin Franklin consulted him on various occasions. For Thomas Jefferson he standardized the foot by pendulum measurements in a project to establish a decimal system of weights and measures.
