St. Stephens Meridian Initial Point, Alabama

The Initial Point set at the intersection of the St. Stephens Meridian and the baseline of the 31st parallel of latitude was established in 1805, and was used to survey the southern half of Alabama and the southeast corner of Mississippi. The meridian was located on a pre-existing monument known as the Ellicott Stone, which marked the 31st parallel in 1798—an east/west Line of Demarcation established by treaty with Spain as the boundary between Spanish Florida and the rest of America to the north. Remarkably, the stone is still there, protected inside a fenced enclosure. Only a few of the Initial Points have their original marking stones intact, and this one is the most historic of them all. It is located in a remote spot in the woods, protected by a fence and canopy. The stone was broken decades ago and was repaired with cement, and also set in concrete. An additional wire mesh enclosure that protected the stone has been removed. The north side of the stone reads “U. S. LAT 31  1799” and the south side “DOMINIO DE, S.M.CARLOS IV LAT 31 1799,” meaning “Dominion of his Majesty King Charles IV, Latitude 31, 1799.”
 A more contemporary brass Coast and Geodetic Survey Triangulation Station disc has been attached to the top of the stone. It is one of 37 federal survey points of origin covering the USA (outside of the 13 original colonies), known as Initial Points, selected over a span of 150 years, to anchor newly acquired federal land to the legal and cartographic grid.