FIRST -- Survey Point for Public Lands in Mississippi Territory, nr Mobile AL
N 30° 59.779 W 088° 01.511
16R E 402123 N 3429644
The Ellicott Stone serves as the initial point (or Zero Stone) for all public land surveys in the Mississippi territory.
Waymark Code: WMNCDX
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 02/13/2015
Views: 2
The Ellicott Stone historic marker is in a roadside pullout, a few hundred yards from the stone.
The Alabama state historic marker reads as follows:
ELLICOTT'S STONE
Erected April 9th 1799
Marks 1st Southern Boundary of United States
and the Mississippi Territory created in 1798.
---- 900 feet east ----
Stone marked 31* North Latitude separating the US and Spanish Florida.
This line of demarcation ran from the Mississippi east, along the 31* parallel to the Chattahoochee River, thence down that river to the mouth of the Flint River, thence on a line to the headwaters of the St Mary's river, thence down that river to the Atlantic Ocean.
Major Andrew Ellicott, appointed by George Washington as U.S. Commissioner to survey the boundary as defined in the Treaty of San Lorenzo (1795), was engaged in this expedition from 1796 to 1800. Esteban Minor was appointed Commissioner on the Spanish side.
In 1803, the Ellicott Stone was selected as the Initial Point to begin the U.S. Public Land Surveys which control land boundaries in Southern Alabama and Mississippi (St. Stephen's Meridian)."
FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event
Date of FIRST: 04/09/1799
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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