Ellicott's Stone Historical Park: A Boundary Marker

Ellicott's Stone Historical Park protects a significant, yet subtle, piece of American history. The park's centerpiece is Ellicott's Stone, a sandstone marker placed on April 10, 1799, by a joint U.S.-Spanish survey team led by Andrew Ellicott. This marked the boundary between the Mississippi Territory in the United States and Spanish West Florida, as defined by the 1795 Pinckney Treaty. The stone itself is a ferruginous sandstone block. The north face of the stone is engraved “U.S. Lat. 31 degrees 1799,” and the south face reads “Dominios de S.M. Carlos IV. Lat. 31 degrees 1799.” It served as the initial point for all United States Public Land Surveys in the southern region of Alabama and Mississippi. All townships in the area are numbered from the stone. In 1968, the American Society of Civil Engineers designated Ellicott's Stone as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Today, the park offers a quiet place to reflect on the history of the region and the efforts to establish its boundaries.