For land described in metes and bounds, a rood may be used as part of the total acreage. A rood is 1/4 of an acre and is sometimes used instead of fractional parts of an acre. A piece of property that is 10 acres and 3 roods would be 10 3/4 acres.
A rood is different from a rod. A rod is a unit of linear measure. A rod is 16.5 feet.
4 Responses
Thank you, Michael! Somehow I have not encountered the term rood. Without this gem I may have thought it a typo for rod.
You are welcome. That’s an easy mistake to make.
I too expected to hear about rods…we farmed and my dad could pace off a rod…almost to the fraction of an inch. He could also look down the road and tell how many rods to a certain point. The red gate that gave entry to the first field was a rod from the driveway…so I have a little sense of how far that is. But I never heard him talk about roods. Acres seemed to be the word for an area matter. I am glad to have learned a new word.
Rood is an older term. I’ve encountered it in deeds up to the 1830s, but generally not much after that–at least in my personal experience.