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Frank,

        It does seem odd to me that surveyors would quote things relative to magnetic north. They might use a compass to carry out measurements in the field but would they really not just convert this back to true? However I didn’t get the impression from reading the article that the author was claiming that the approach could be applied to all walls everywhere or that there was necessarily any standardization of boundary directions in New England towns.

Looking at the example of a survey that was attached to the article I see two directions noted. It doesn’t say whether they are true or magnetic but, if the half degree accuracy they are quoted to, is an indication of the survey's overall accuracy and the wall still exists today then it should be easy to decide which. If it’s true then we learn nothing but if it’s magnetic then it should in principle it should work…a lot of “if’s” I know.

Regards,

Robin