Daily AncestorPlat
A plat is a map drawn to scale showing how land is divided, such as a General Land Office township plat or a town plat of blocks and lots.
General Land Office surveyors drew township plats showing section lines, distances and directions, sometimes with streams and woods. Towns filed plats showing streets, blocks and numbered lots.
Once a plat was filed, deeds could describe land simply by block and lot number instead of by parts of sections.
As seen in a recordDeed for a town lot, 1880s
Lot No. 6 in Block 4 of the original plat of the Town of Fairview
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Plat." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/legal-land/plat. Last checked 2026-10-10.