Ellicott's Stone

{{Short description|Historic boundary marker in Mobile County, Alabama, US}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Ellicott Stone | nrhp_type = | image = Ellicott's Stone front.jpg | caption = The south side of the stone. It reads: Dominio De S.M. Carlos IV, Lat. 31, 1799. | nearest_city = Bucks, Alabama | coordinates = {{coord|30|59|52.11|N|88|01|21.06|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Alabama#USA | built = 1799 | architect = | architecture = | added = April 11, 1973 | area = less than one acre | refnum = 73000359<ref name="nris">{{cite web|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/73000359|title=Ellicott Stone|work=NPGallery Digital Asset Management System|publisher=United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service|accessdate=2018-05-27}}</ref><ref name=nomination>{{cite web|last=Floyd|first=W. Warner, Executive Director, Alabama Historical Commission, Montgomery, Alabama|date=1972-10-04|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/6c9d23e5-becd-49b5-9352-aacaf9aa1c34|title=Ellicott Stone|work=National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form|publisher=United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service|accessdate=2018-05-27}}</ref> }}

'''Ellicott's Stone''', also known as the '''Ellicott Stone''', is a boundary marker in northern Mobile County, Alabama. It was placed on April 10, 1799, by a joint U.S.–Spanish survey party headed by Andrew Ellicott.<ref name="ASCE">{{cite web |url=https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/ellicott-stone |title=Ellicott Stone |author= |website=American Society of Civil Engineers |access-date=2022-01-29}}</ref><ref name="ASPLS">(1) {{cite web|title=Alabama Surveying History |work=Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors |url=http://www.aspls.org/history.html |accessdate=2008-03-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513225712/http://www.aspls.org/history.html |archivedate=2008-05-13 }}</ref> It was designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1968 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1973.<ref name=nris/><ref name=marker/>

It is the only known stone monument set by Ellicott when he surveyed the 31st parallel north latitude, which served as the boundary line between the Mississippi Territory in the United States and Spanish West Florida.<ref name="ASPLS"/> The boundary line extended along the 31st parallel from the Mississippi River east to the Chattahoochee River, as set forth in the 1795 Pinckney Treaty, formally known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo.<ref name="ADAH">{{cite web|title=Historic Markers: Mobile County |work=Alabama Department of Archives and History |url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/markers/imobile.html |accessdate=2008-03-06 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207100436/http://www.archives.state.al.us/markers/imobile.html |archivedate=2008-02-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ADAH2">{{cite web|title=Mobile: Alabama's Tricentennial City|work=Alabama Department of Archives and History|url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/mobile/mobile2.html|accessdate=2008-03-06|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024826/http://www.archives.state.al.us/mobile/mobile2.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ellicott's Stone is the initial point for all United States Public Land surveys in the southern region of Alabama and Mississippi.<ref name=nomination/><ref name="ASPLS"/> It is the point of intersection of what is known today as the St. Stephens meridian and the St. Stephens baseline.<ref name="ASPLS"/> All townships in the area are numbered from the stone.<ref name=nomination/>

The marker stone is located east of U.S. Route 43 in Ellicott Stone Historical Park, about {{convert|1|mi|km|1}} south of Bucks, Alabama.<ref name=nomination/><ref name=marker/><ref name=Peacock>{{cite web|url=http://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/search?q=Ellicott|title=Life List Update – No. 723: Visit Ellicott's Stone|work=Dispatches from the LP-OP|last=Peacock|first=Lee|date=2013-07-15|via=Blogspot|accessdate=2017-05-27}}</ref> The park was established in 1917.<ref name=marker>{{cite web|first=Mark|last=Hilton|date=2013-12-05|url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=104073|title="Ellicott's Stone" marker|work=HMdb: The Historical Marker Database|accessdate=2021-03-06}}</ref> It is now near the James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant, west of the Mobile River.<ref name=Peacock/>

==Description== The stone marker, a ferruginous sandstone block about {{convert|2|ft|mm|spell=in}} high and {{convert|8|in|mm|spell=in}} thick, is near the west bank of the Mobile River. 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)<ref name="ADAH"/><ref name="ADAH2"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category-inline|Ellicott's Stone}} *{{cite web |url =http://www.clui.org/section/st-stephens-meridian |title =St. Stephens Meridian |publisher =The Center for Land Use Interpretation |accessdate =2012-10-06}} *{{cite web |url =http://blog.al.com/live/2010/02/surveyor_finds_old_mounds_mark.html |title =Surveyor finds old mounds marking 1799 creation of Alabama-Florida border |publisher =AL.com |date =February 1, 2010 |accessdate =2012-10-06}}

Category:1799 establishments in the United States Category:1799 in the United States Category:Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Category:Pre-statehood history of Alabama Category:Historic surveying landmarks in the United States Category:Monuments and memorials in Alabama Category:National Register of Historic Places in Mobile County, Alabama