Ellicott's Stone, also known as the Ellicott Stone, is a

boundary marker A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other t ...

in northern Mobile County,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

. It was placed on April 10, 1799 by a joint U.S.-

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

survey party headed by

Andrew Ellicott Andrew Ellicott (January 24, 1754 – August 28, 1820) was an American land surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the boundaries of the District of Columbia, continued and completed Pierre (Pete ...

.(1) It was designated as a

National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United State ...

in 1968 and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

on April 11, 1973. It is the only known stone monument set by Ellicott when he surveyed the 31st parallel north

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north po ...

, which served as the boundary line between the

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the western half of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Mississippi. ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and Spanish

West Florida West Florida ( es, Florida Occidental) was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. As its name suggests, it was formed out of the western part of former S ...

. The boundary line extended along the 31st parallel from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

east to the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...

, as set forth in the 1795 Pinckney Treaty, formally known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo. Ellicott's Stone is the initial point for all United States Public Land surveys in the southern region of Alabama and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

. It is the point of intersection of what is known today as the St. Stephens meridian and the St. Stephens baseline. All townships in the area are numbered from the stone. The marker stone is located east of U.S. Route 43 in Ellicott Stone Historical Park, about south of

Bucks, Alabama Bucks is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22, down from 32 at the 2010 census. It is located in the northeastern section of the count ...

. The park was established in 1917. It is now near the

James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant, also known as Barry Steam Plant or Plant Barry, is a coal- and natural gas-fired electrical generation facility in Bucks, Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It lies on the west bank of the Mobile Ri ...

, west of the

Mobile River The Mobile River is located in southern Alabama in the United States. Formed out of the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, the approximately river drains an area of of Alabama, with a watershed extending into Mississippi, Georgia ...

Description

The stone marker, a ferruginous

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

block about two feet high and eight inches (203 mm) thick, is near the west bank of the

. On the northern side of the stone is an inscription stating "U.S. Lat. 31, 1799." The inscription on the southern side reads "Dominio De S.M. Carlos IV, Lat. 31, 1799." (Dominion of his majesty King Charles IV, Lat. 31, 1799)

References

External links

* * {{NRHP in Mobile County, Alabama 1799 establishments in the United States 1799 in the United States Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Pre-statehood history of Alabama Historic surveying landmarks in the United States Circles of latitude Monuments and memorials in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Mobile County, Alabama