Back in the 1800's each NC County was required to have Meridian Stones. These stones were used to "calibrate" compasses. As you can imagine, over the years many of those stones were lost or destroyed.
A few years ago Gary Thompson and NCGS started a program to see how many of these stones we could identify and recover. One of the stones was recovered in Wilkes County. But, that stone was in danger of being removed because of nearby construction.
Our chapter was able to convince the contractor to save the stone and allow us to place a marker nearby. Neil Shepherd (PE, PLS and current chapter President) was instrumental in making all this happen. Thank you Neil.
We had a brief dedication ceremony Tuesday evening. Here are a couple of photos.
Everyone in the shot is a PLS.
Richard Carpenter brought an old Transit. I didn't get a good look at it but you can see the shadow in this shot.
Larry P
That's pretty cool Larry.
Good job
Nice! I found one of the stones in New Hanover county. I have looked for the stones in Southport and at the Pender county courthouse to no avail.
I am impressed that those stones have lasted these many years. Were you able to check the declination in 2013 and compare to original declination?
Does anyone know if any such stones were used in colonial Georgia? I have been re-reading Cadle's Georgia Land Surveying History and Law and early in the text it mentions that surveyors should calibrate their compasses to determine declination. Anyone have any idea how this was performed in late 1700s to early 1800s? I've not been successful finding info on such on the internet. Thanks to any and all for info.
See p. 417 of Cadle for the persistence of magnetic bearings in early American land surveys. This despite understanding of declination and of astronomic methods of correcting for it. John Love's Geodaesia includes none of those, that I can find, though he mentions the untrustworthiness of the needle. Not quite forty years later, Samuel Wyld gives a couple of procedures (rough, by our standards) for using a scope with cross hairs to sight either the sun or Polaris.
I haven't found any reference to meridian stones in Georgia, but there must have been some.
Cheers,
Henry
Thanks, Henry. I'll keep looking/researching. I'm working in Savannah on a road project and may try to contact Mr. Cadle. Perhaps he could shed some light. Thanks again.
Bill
I love this site, so many helpful surveyors.
