This picture, which I have titled, "The Easement is Abandoned," will be of interest mostly to people who study Preseault v. United States in property class — I gather that it's only in the Dukeminier property book. As my students will recall, I'm somewhat skeptical of whether there was enough evidence of abandonment in that case. But I'd be more convinced of it in this case, because the railroad bridge was taken down. Of course, there might be yet more evidence of abandonment…. Can't wait to use this picture next fall when I teach Presault!
I took this while traveling through Petersburg recently, which is a city I have increasingly fallen in love with — which, as my friends know is a dangerous thing, because it means that the next step is thinking about buying a house there. Preferably an antebellum home, which are incredibly affordable. I mean, really, how many antebellum homes can you buy for $50,000. And where else can you get a 6000 square foot — 6000 squre foot — antebellum mansion for $225,000? I'm guessing not many places. Someday I'm going to regret that I didn't buy one of those places. I'm astonished at how many homes are preserved from the era of Civil War — and also how much the monument landscape is populated with Union as well as Confederate monuments.
And, hey, Petersburg has generated a ton of trivia questions — courthouse trivia, Freedom Riders trivia, and most recently library and civil rights trivia.
Update as of January 2, 2017 — on the drive home to Chapel Hill from Philadelphia I stopped by Petersburg again and saw that nearby this abandoned railroad bed are the pillars of a railroad bridge over the Appomattox River. Thus, I now have a second photograph, which I'm calling "this easement is also abandoned." This is right near Virginia State University, which is on land once owned by John Randolph's family, the plantation Matoax. One of these days I want to see if I can find the family's cemetery, which I take it is on the Randolph Farm property of VSU, in the town of Matoaca. I actually think I drove right by that on Saturday.
I haven't taught Presault since 2010, but abandonment wasn't the only open question. While some of the conveyances were clearly easements, others used the language of fee simple. Yet, the judge decided to treat all conveyances as easements, regardless of the drafting.