Wendy,
 I am in an area where we have county tax maps(only since 1973) that are drawn and show the footage. Our county charges a verification fee to verify the description however thay are not very accurate(people at counter with no training). 
 When I am researching a parcel and it breaks up into smaller pieces or it gets absorb into a larger parcel. I simply put the metes and bounds description in and it draws out the map. It can give acreage, sq ftge, it also can calculate gap if doesn't close. I recently have used it for a town project for the parking area that broke up into 19 parcels.
 It was inexpensive and easy to use, My staff when baffled by a description uses it we no problems............Mason