Troy University News

Date

Contact:
Tom Davis
Troy Office of University Relations
334/670-3196
tomdavis@troy.edu

Office of University Relations
253 Adams Administration
Troy, AL 36082
(334) 670-3196
(334) 670-3274 (fax)

TSU students to research historic Alabama-Florida boundary

   Ten students in Troy State University’s geomatics program will spend part of their spring break in Florida, but they won’t visit the beach.
    These students will devote three days of their holiday break, March 25-27, to participating in a grant project that combines surveying and archeology in a search for the original survey mounds that mark the Alabama-Florida border.
    The students, accompanied by Dr. James Elithorp, associate professor of mathematics and physics, were recruited for this project by Gregory Spies of Mobile. Spies, a surveyor and archeologist, is also an adjunct instructor in TSU’s geomatics program. Geomatics combines traditional land surveying methods with modern technology.
    Spies said the project is funded in part by a grant from the National Society of Professional Surveyors Foundation. The project was commissioned, Spies said, to find evidence of the survey marker mounds created by Andrew Ellicott in his historic survey of 1798-1800. The students and Dr. Elithorp will use the latest in global positioning system (GPS) technology, Spies said.
    The students will work three separate sites along the state line:

Monday, March 25, near Florala;
Tuesday, March 26 on the banks of the Chattahoochee River near the points where Alabama, Georgia and Florida intersect; and
Wednesday, March 27 on the banks of the Perdido River.

    "This is a significant project, because this is the first major historical survey project to receive a grant from this foundation," Spies said. "This was the first actual survey of the United States border with Spanish Florida."
    Spies said project is also practical, as there are numerous land disputes—some of them long-standing—that could be settled if the Ellicott mound line is documented.
    "This will be a wonderful learning experience for our students and a chance for them to contribute to a worthwhile project," Spies said.
    Students who will participate in the project are Brandon Bailey of Uriah, Rusty Blackwell of Montgomery, Lance Holloway of New Brockton, Brock Mathews of Enterprise, Colter Nelson of Forkland, Josh Smith of Jackson’s Gap, Sarah Wicker of Brundidge and Jason Gray, Tony Gray and Michael Maddox of Troy.