Dee Gibson-Roles has published a very good introduction to reading deeds and property transactions. The article describes the “metes and bounds” method of describing the land in question. She also offers practical hints, such as, "It often pays the researcher to check out the chain bearers, as they were quite often relatives, even sons, of the person acquiring the land."
You can read this introduction to the subject in the Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen-Times web site at http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20101101/COLUMNISTS/311010012/1004/
