Double “D” bar “C” Ranch brought a quiet title action regarding a 25.09 acre parcel of land situated between Lebanon Road and “Old Ridge Road,” a public road abandoned after Lebanon Road was constructed in the 1930′s, in land lot 161 in Fannin County. The ranch alleged that it owned the property both as holder of record title and by prescription. A special master was appointed who conducted a hearing and then issued a report in which he recommended that title in the property be quieted in favor of appellees. The superior court adopted the special master’s report and the ranch appeals. Finding no error, we affirm. Recorded deeds, stipulated as admissible by the parties, established that the common grantor to both parties, L.L. Weeks, conveyed 30 acres in land lot 161 west of a “public road” to John F. Thomas in 1893 and conveyed 125 acres lying east of a “public road” to W. O. Clift in 1903. It is uncontroverted that Lebanon Road did not exist at the time of these conveyances; hence, the special master found that the “public road” referenced in the deeds was the now-abandoned Old Ridge Road. Additionally, the special master was entitled to credit the testimony of witnesses that Old Ridge Road was known as the boundary between the Clift and Thomas properties for at least the prior 70 years. See generally Cooley v. McRae , 275 Ga. 435 569 SE2d 845 2002 findings of special master adopted by trial court in quiet title action will be upheld unless clearly erroneous.
Appellees claim the contested property under chain of title back to Thomas based on a 1968 deed into them. Although that deed did not expressly mention land lot 161, it referenced the immediate prior title in appellees’ chain, a publicly recorded 1952 deed, which appellant conceded below included the disputed property, as well as the owners of the adjacent properties bounding the property conveyed. Appellant claims the contested property under chain of title to a 1991 deed, in which the executor of the estate of George Clift purported to convey the disputed property along with property to the east of Old Ridge Road to Clement Clift. Clement Clift, in turn, used the property to secure an indebtedness; after his untimely death, the property was foreclosed and purchased by Dunn, appellant’s immediate predecessor in title. Dunn, however, divided the property and conveyed it to appellant in 1997 by means of two separate deeds: a quitclaim deed for the disputed property and a warranty deed for the property east of the Old Ridge Road.
