Words

"To be set later"

"Origin unknown"

"Found plastic root beer bottle"

.

.

.

Seriously,  any chance the first part resembles any potential owner's name?

L(ord) dork of stones.

Definitely talking about a surveyor.

Other marks on the map might provide a clue to deciphering that scribble. Can you post the entire thing, or a link to where it can be downloaded?

It looks like ink has flaked off on places.

L.....&stones

Maybe even

L..Mark&stones

The handwriting style of the 1700s does not necessarily conform to more recent styles.  Is it possible that what appears to be a "d" could be a "t" if the little squiggle floating nearby was intended to be a crossing of the "t"?

Hard to judge handwriting.  I have a letter on my desk from a Susan Strong.  The capital S of each name is a bit different from the other.  Weird.  You would expect them to be identical.

0.03' N & 0.05' E of True Corner?

Ooo Ooo Ooo, I got it now.  The swirl is supposed to be crossing the "t" in the first word.  The "L" is shorthand for Large.  Then you get...........wait for it............Large stack of stones.

@holy-cow 

That makes sense, except that I have trouble ignoring the extra line at what you call 'c' and I still think it looks more like an ampersand than 'of'

@holy-cow 

Wow! That is excellent. Thank you.

@james-fleming 

Ha ha.

@peter-lothian 

You are right. I often look at other words in these document to see the shapes of letters and get context.

My colleague has the map. He is writing a book, and I am collaborating.

When I get a copy of the map I'll post it here.

@bill93 

His "a" is an "o" plus a down stroke.  The down stroke missed the right side of the "o" by a bit, sort of like the crossing of the "t".  Then his pen drug a little as it was moving over to create the "c".

You must use your imagination a bit.

Another thing to consider when reading old documents like this is the use of the long S in words with a ss. The letter will resemble a  a lower case f. 

@james-fleming omfg

The older I get, the better I used to be.

No more accurate statement has ever been made.

@not-my-real-name 

What did you find there?

@holy-cow 

@dougie 

It's not from a survey. I am collaborating with a colleague who is writing a book. I am the survey consultant. 

Some other words that we came upon, and were able to translate were Hackmatack, Popple, and Chaise House.

In order, they are (in modern language) Tamarack or Lodge Pole pine, Poplar tree, and Carriage House. We took a liberty on the last one. Chaise is chair in French.

@not-my-real-name 

Have you read Norman Van Valkenburgh's books? He was a surveyor and turned out two or three novels and some history of the Catskill area of New York.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Catskills-Norman-Van-Valkenburgh/dp/0935796371

Someone sent two to me and I passed them on to someone on the forum. They may have gone to Belgium after that.

If anyone has them, I'd like to be reminded of where the car went off the road, as I think it may have been near the land someone was asking about on this forum a couple-three years ago.