Saturday, April 26, 2025
10 am – 4pm
Keith Valley Middle School
227 Meetinghouse Rd, Horsham, PA

In my persona as “David Rittenhouse,” I will be conducting hands-on surveying demonstrations at this years Crooked Billet History Fair in Horsham.

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.  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. 

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 to effectively move the army and wage war. David Rittenhouse was a highly respected scientist during the formative years of the United States. Rittenhouse ran the survey that established the circular boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware, a circle of 12-mile radius, with Newcastle as its center. He later worked with Andrew Ellicott to extend the Mason-Dixon Line to Ohio in 1784. Finally, he established a point at 42º north latitude for the beginning of the westward line dividing New York and Pennsylvania. For Pennsylvanians, David Rittenhouse is the most important of all surveyors and if that was all of his talents, we would be impressed but this just scratches the surface.

A clock maker by trade, Rittenhouse built mathematical instruments and set up the first astronomical observatory in British America, Rittenhouse was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1768, and in 1769 he observed the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun. Rittenhouse also active in politics acting as the treasurer of the state of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1789. In 1792 Pres. George Washington appointed him the first director of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, a position he held for three years. The Rittenhouse surveyor’s compass was of such superior design and construction, that its use was specified in the U.S. Surveyor General’s instructions to deputy surveyors for many years. In fact, its use continued until sometime after 1836, some 40 years after Rittenhouse’s death.

The program at Crooked Billet will be an interactive program where participants will be encouraged to employ the tools and techniques of the 18th Century Surveyor and actively measure a plot of land.  Participants will be allowed to site lines using the compass and range poles.  They will be allowed to measure those lines using the Gunter’s chain as well as measure splines off that lines for irregular boundaries.  Finally, participants will be encouraged to use these measurements to draw maps and write property descriptions (which they may take away). 

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