The Importance Of Milestones
Let’s start with a definition:
1. A stone set up beside a road to mark the distance in miles to a particular place.
2.
An action or event marking a significant change or stage in development.
synonyms:
landmark, significant event, achievement, highlight, watershed, benchmark, touchstone
This weekend has me thinking about milestones, for a few different reasons. As this weekend comes and goes we reach another Milestone on the calendar with the month of April ending and May Day taking place. Here in the Maine Lakes Region all of our Lakefront Marinas are waking up and beginning the tasks of helping area residents, along with our visitors, with their watercraft and boating / sailing needs. Docks are being put in – a tradition for many families on Mother’s Day weekend coming up next weekend – and that is certainly an annual milestone for many, towards the approaching summer season. Camps and summer homes are being opened-up after being vacant for the winter, and the spring is certainly upon us with the arrival of “the bugs” in this timeframe.. an annual milestone we must endure.
You also have in the definition, the factor of distance. Having traveled to a family function this weekend in “The County” in Presque Isle, there are many “Milestone” reminders. You have the many mile markers keeping you abreast of your progress northbound – and southbound on return – towards the magic 302 or 305 number that ends Maine US Route 95, where you pick up US Route 1 north in Houlton to reach Presque Isle traveling through many towns including Mars Hill. Did you know that you can tell which way a road travels just by it’s number? You can. All odd number roads, travel North and South only. Even numbered roads always travel East and West. If you doubt this at all, simply look at a map.
With family this weekend, I was reminded that the farmland – and all property – also is divided with Markers which for many farms, indeed are Milestones. A farm of 640 acres turns out to be exactly 1 mile, by 1 mile square.
The legal description of a tract of land includes the name of the state, name of the county, township number, range number, section number, and portion of the section. In United States land surveying under the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a section is an area nominally one square mile (2.6 square kilometers), containing 640 acres (260 hectares), with 36 sections making up one survey township on a rectangular grid, hence why you will see “T2 R6” on the highway, because there is so much land still unsettled, it simply has a Township and Range destination, with no town name.
What will be your next important milestone? We suggest setting goals matters. If it involves property or Real Estate here in the Maine Lakes Region: give us a call!