South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Alexander Bache U.S. Coast Survey Line, Charleston County (8377 State Cabin Rd., Edisto Island)
S1081771018201 S1081771018202 S1081771018203 S1081771018204 S1081771018205
East End
Point Marker
Botany Bay
Plantation
2nd Mile Marker
Botany Bay
Plantation
5th Mile Marker
Cooper Bolt
Detail
5th Mile Marker West End
Point Marker
Edisto Beach
State Park
S1081771018206 S1081771018207 S1081771018208    
West End
Point Marker
Edisto Beach
State Park
West End
Point Marker
Edisto Beach
State Park
West End
Point Marker
Edisto Beach
State Park

The Alexander Bache U.S. Coast Survey Line is significant for its role in improving the navigation of U.S. waterways. As part of the geodetic survey in America, this base line is representative of the most advanced scientific methods available in 1850. Alexander Dallas Bache and his assistants worked thirteen days in January of 1850 to measure the line, which is approximately six and two-thirds miles long. When they completed the line, they buried granite blocks at each endpoint and then placed a granite monument on top of each block. They also placed blocks of granite in the ground to mark the end of each mile of the line. In the early 1800s, the U.S. government began the U.S. Coast Survey to chart the waterways of the United States with the goal of improving navigation and consequently spurring the economy that greatly depended upon maritime travel. The coast survey extended along the entire Atlantic coastline, as well as the Gulf and Pacific shores. President John Tyler appointed Alexander Bache, the great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, as the second superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey of December 11, 1843 following the death of Superintendent Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler. Bache held the position until his death in 1867. Listed in the National Register October 5, 2007.

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