This appeal involves three adjacent properties in rural Lee County owned by Appellants Roy and Ruth Goodson and Donald and Nancy Eller and Appellees Arthur and Donna Ford. All three properties descend from a common owner who recorded, but later withdrew, a subdivision plat that included the Goodson Property and the Eller Property. The Goodsons and Ellers claim the right to use all of “Carol Street,” which, as shown on the subdivision plat, is a rectangular strip of land 60 feet wide by 418 feet long running between the Goodson and Eller Properties and connecting to Highway 32. In 2007, the Fords filed a petition to quiet title to the Ford Property, a 38.63-acre tract that includes Carol Street. The trial court quieted title to the Ford Property in the Fords, subject only to a 20-foot-wide easement in the Goodsons and Ellers for ingress and egress down the centerline of Carol Street from the end of their driveways to Highway 32. This appeal followed, and we now affirm.1 1. In 1967, Nora Allen deeded the Eller Property to Carol Allen Ranew, who in turn deeded it to Eugenia and Philip Truex in 1971. In 1972, Allen filed a subdivision plat for “Allen Acres” that showed Carol Street running between the Goodson and Eller Properties. In 1973, Allen deeded the Goodson Property to Mack Lamm, who in turn deeded it to Lloyd and Audrey Kimmel in 1975; both deeds incorporated the Allen Acres subdivision plat by reference. Zack Strickland bought the property to the east of the Eller Property around that time and noticed that Carol Street was mowed and that the property owners on either side used a dirt road down the center of it to access Highway 32 from their driveways. Every once in a while, Strickland also saw cars parked on the mowed area.
In February 1977, Allen recorded an affidavit in the deed book stating her intent to withdraw the Allen Acres subdivision plat. Three months later, the Kimmels conveyed the Goodson Property to the Goodsons via a deed that incorporated the Allen Acres subdivision plat by reference. The Goodsons used Carol Street to access Highway 32, for the placement of residential dumpsters, to store farm equipment like trailers and tractors, and occasionally for social events.
