Happy (United States) Independence Day!
To celebrate July 4th this year, we’re going to plug a great book about the development of real property ownership during the formative years of the United States of America–Andro Linklater’s Measuring America: How the United States Was Shaped By the Greatest Land Sale in History. Linklater tells the surprisingly action-packed story of how the land west of the original 13 colonies was measured and divided up into plots, and how the decisions underlying how those measurements were carried out eventually led to the modern American system of real estate ownership, as well as leaving the US as one of the only countries to not switch to the metric system of measurement.
DC-area real estate professionals might find it particularly interesting, as it gives a wonderful context to ideas like the differences between the “metes & bounds” survey system that agents are forced to learn about when getting licensed (and often never think about again) and the rectangular survey system from which we get the modern “lot and block” system that seems to be so difficult for agents in this area to understand when they are entering data into the MLS. Cartography, history, and math geeks will all also find many of the stories fascinating, as would anyone who has enjoyed any of Simon Winchester’s historical writings.
Have a safe and happy 4th of July!
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