This consists of woven wire of 4-5 inch squares, topped by a single strand of barbed wire. There are some rotted wooden posts still attached, along with a few rusty metal posts.
From historical photos, we know that the front of our lot was part of an approximately 20 acre rectangular crop field from at least the 1940s to at least 1960. The wire fencing likely ran north-south along this field, probably separating the crop from the next discernable plot, running back another 550 feet or so. In the earliest photos we have, we see this plot as an semi-open area. It was likely mostly oak barren/savannah prior to European settlement, and by 1949 it had some large trees and other shrubs and trees beginning to fill it in.
The above plot is the first third of our woodlot, and a shallow north-south ditch runs along its western boundary. There is some barbed wire mostly buried in this ditch that we won't be able to examine until spring.
The best intact fencing is along our western property line. It is mostly on the ground, also woven wire fence with no barbed wire, and has mostly wooden posts (mostly rotted) and a metal post just beyond our north property line. Here are some photos.
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| A section of our west boundary fence, with a rotten post. Note the fence is attached to the post on our side. |
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| I pulled this post from the west fence (seen on the right). It was in much better condition than all the others, and square rather than round. It must have been a replacement. It likely pre-dates the tree I leaned it against in this photo, or I would expect the farmer would have just attached it to the tree were it large enough. |
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| At the southwest corner of our lot, the fence is embedded in an old maple tree. At some point, I will estimate the age of the tree for a clue as to when the fencing was put up. |
In an attempt to learn more about how to read our land, I picked up the book Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to Reading the Forested Landscape. It noted two things that help us understand the story behind our fencing (literally). This type of woven wire fencing was used in pastures that held sheep. Because of their wool, sheep can't feel barbs in barbed wire, so they can get tangled in it. Thus, woven wire fencing -- often with one strand of barbed wire -- was used for sheep pasture.
That sheep may have been allowed to graze in this semi-open area makes sense: Washtenaw County did and does have many sheep farms. Since the fencing along the west boundary was attached to posts/trees on our side of the property line, it indicates that the sheep or livestock were on our property. This is so that if the animals leaned on the fence the pressure would be borne by the trees or posts. If the fencing were attached to the opposite side from the livestock, leaning would pull it off the posts or trees. Sheep were allowed to pasture on land that held trees (which provided them with shade) and even in open forest. According to old sheep-raising texts, acorns were good fodder.
We do know that one of the Aprill's -- likely George S. Aprill, who owned the land until at least 1957 -- raised Black-top Delaine Merinos. Newspaper articles indicate he began his flock around 1900.
It so happens that his father George (who was an apple cider and jelly manufacturer) was one of the first people to bring wire fencing to Washtenaw County, right around the time his son was establishing his sheep flock. The April 21, 1899 issue of the Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat ran this little piece:
We're less sure about the function of the barbed wire that runs though the center of the property. Elton Frey, the land owner after George Aprill, Jr. from about 1960, was a well-known dairy farmer. If he had used the land to pasture cows, he may have wanted to prevent them from entering the wetter portion of the land. Frey retired to Arizona around 1969. It does appear that the semi-open and wooded parts of our property went unused after around 1960, and took on the second-growth forest structure it has today, so we are not sure if he added this barbed wire or not. Perhaps if we unearth more of it we may be able to obtain more clues.
