# How Land Is Surveyed in Alabama: Reading a Legal Description

> Alabama land surveys explained for mineral owners: Three meridians, and deeds recorded somewhere people do not expect. What the legal description on your deed or division order actually means, and where to look the records up free.

Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/land-survey/alabama/
Publisher: Berlin Royalties, a veteran-owned oil and gas mineral and royalty buyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, buying for its own account since 2014. Call or text 918-984-1645.
License: free to quote and cite with attribution to Berlin Royalties and a link to the source URL.

Land Surveys · Alabama

## How land is surveyed in Alabama

Three meridians, and deeds recorded somewhere people do not expect. Here is what the legal description on your deed, lease or division order is actually telling you, and where to check it for free.

[Ask a Landman, Free](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ask-a-landman/) [What Are My Minerals Worth?](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/)

**Alabama uses public land survey system.** Three meridians, and deeds recorded somewhere people do not expect.

## The principal meridians

A principal meridian and its base line are the origin of a rectangular survey. Township and range numbers count outward from that origin, which means the same township and range numbers repeat under every meridian. The meridian is the part of the description that says which grid you are on.

- **St. Stephens Meridian** (1805). Governs land in Alabama and Mississippi.

- **Huntsville Meridian** (1807). Governs land in Alabama and Mississippi.

- **Tallahassee Meridian** (1824). Governs Florida and part of Alabama.

## What we see go wrong in Alabama

Three meridians in one state means township and range numbers repeat, and older Alabama instruments that leave the meridian off are genuinely ambiguous. The other thing catches nearly every out of state heir: Alabama records deeds in the county Probate Court, with the Judge of Probate, not with a recorder or a county clerk. An heir who calls the circuit clerk asking for a deed copy will be told the record does not exist.

## Where to look it up, free

- [BLM General Land Office Records](https://glorecords.blm.gov). Original patents, plats and field notes

Deeds and mineral instruments are with each county Judge of Probate. Alabama has no free official statewide land records portal.

### Send us the description and we will read it back to you.

What it covers, how many net mineral acres it actually is, and whether anything is producing on it. Free, no obligation, and the answer does not change if you never sell anything to us. We do this every day and it usually takes us an hour.

[Ask a Landman](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ask-a-landman/) [Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/)

## Related

- [How land is surveyed in every state we work in](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/land-survey/)

- [The interactive section, township and range map](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/section-township-range-map/)

- [Alabama mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/alabama/) and the [Alabama owner's guide](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/guide/alabama/)

- [How to find out if you own mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/find-out-if-you-own-mineral-rights/)

- [Depth severance](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/depth-severance/) and [the Duhig rule](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/duhig-rule-overconveyance/)

- [The mineral glossary](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/glossary/)

Compiled from BLM, state land offices, state archives and statute, current as of 2026-08. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop in Tulsa, not a law firm or a licensed surveyor. Nothing here is a boundary opinion, and a description that matters to a transaction should be run by a title attorney or a licensed surveyor in the state where the land sits.