A discussion below touched on a distinction between value and use of land in regard to small strips or gores. Being the fourth of July, it may be appropriate to reflect on the freedom of landowners to disagree. I was reminded of the case in the following link, although had not seen this article before. Originally published in 1921 it gives some good insight into the mindset many of us deal with on a regular basis. Enjoy! And happy 4th to all.
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles14/new-york-49.shtml
More info
http://nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON005.htm
A number of years ago (early 2000's perhaps), POB published an article, likely about the same house though I do not remember for sure. They included the architectural drawings as well. It was interesting to see the actual layout of the houses.
There was a highway project where a businessman quickly managed to acquire a bunch of undeveloped tracts along the proposed corridor, and promptly then turned around and as fast as he could, scrambled and got himself every permit imaginable for that land - coal and non-coal mining permits, and so on. And just kept quiet about it all, delaying coming to the table when it came time to negotiate for right of way, pretending he was on board - and once the project solidified more, he then whacked them with his very detailed accounting and data about how he could have developed the land and now no longer can, how much sand and gravel he could have sold, how much coal - and no longer can, even a landfill expansion, to the tune of nearly a billion dollars.
Use or even proposed can mean wild swings in latent value. Something to bear in mind whenever looking at these eminent domain discussions as well.
About thirty years ago I spent some time roughly mapping the original land grants in the area where I then lived, in western Loudoun County, Virginia. They were granted out of the Northern Neck Proprietary, domain of the sixth Lord Fairfax; in that area, the heaviest activity was in the 1740s. Early in the 1800s, a local surveyor named Jesse Janney started hunting down the slivers and gores, acquiring them, and selling them, often in pieces, to neighboring landowners. My favorite was the grant recorded in Book Z, folio 226, dated October 8, 1802. Allowing for failure of closure not atypical for the time, it’s a triangle with a base of about 8546 feet and an altitude of about 110 feet, containing ten acres, two roods and three perches.. These days a street runs along most of where it was.