For over 200 years, the stone placed by Andrew Ellicott has stood alone in the woods near Bucks, Alabama, a monument of historical significance. Hidden from the traffic of Highway 43, the stone lies about a hundred yards from a roadside marker, down a footpath that crosses the old bed of the Mobile and Birmingham Railroad. The brown sandstone stands about 3 feet in height and is surrounded by a fence that protects it from vandals. 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.” As the only stone placed by Ellicott, it is the initial point for all United States Public Land Surveys in the southern region of Alabama and Mississippi, and serves as the point of intersection of the St. Stephens meridian and St. Stephens baseline. But the most interesting feature of the stone is the story of how and why it was placed in this particular spot.