All of you need to read the newspaper article. The people were informed by the county tax office they owned the land. The excerpt below shows why they decided to take the land back. (from the StarNews) The "discovery" tacked on $250,000 to the taxable value of the Murchisons' cottage. County Tax Administrator Bob Glasgow said the family then had to pay five years of back taxes on the land. Sounds like the county screwed this up.