What is an Acre?
An acre is a unit of measurement for land that describes the square footage, or yardage of a parcel of land; though different countries may measure the acre in slightly different ways. If one imagines a football field, one can see roughly the same square footage as would exist in an acre. However, the perimeter of an acre may vary.
Both England and the United States use the acre as a land measurement. In the United States, an acre is 43,560 square feet (13,277.088 square meters). The translation to metric measurements usually results in measurement in hectares. An acre is equivalent to .4 hectares.
Measuring an acre gets more complicated when one uses yards as the central means of measurement. In England and the US, a square yard yields slightly different measurement. Thus saying that an acre contains 4,840 square yards will result in a slightly different metric measurement.
For example, the international measurement of a yard is .9144 meters, and the US measurement of a yard is a tiny bit larger, which results in a square yard measurement that is slightly greater. The difference literally comes down to millionths of a yard. Both England and the US essentially have the same acre measurement, which is also considered the international measurement of an acre.
This does not mean that all countries use exactly the same measurement for an acre. In fact Irish and Scottish acres exceed US and British acres in size. A Scottish acre is equivalent to 1.27 standard acres. The Irish measure the acre as even larger, 1.6 British or US acres.
The acre may also be measured in furlongs, equivalent to 220 yards, by chains, 22 yards. A standard acre would have been measured as one furlong by one chain prior to internationalizing acre measurements.
Acreage measurement is often still used today to advertise property for sale. A house with a “half-acre” might be excellent for growing quite a few plants, and a thriving garden. However, some buyers simply don’t want the mess of cleaning up an acre of overgrown property, and may see property with acreage as a disadvantage.
In some US states, those who own an acre or more may be legally responsible for yearly maintenance to prevent fire hazards. This may involve keeping open acre grass at certain lengths and ridding the property of dead brush or plants.
Written by Tricia Ellis-Christensen
