OldDashMapsDotCom

  This may be the oldest view of Shelburne Falls village. It is taken from the John Warner Barber "Historical Collections..." book published in 1839. The view is, i believe, taken from High Street looking down on the Shelburne side of the village.  The Buckland hills are in the background.  The houses are along either side of Main Street which is seen as a narrow band extending from left to right at a slight diagonal.  I have added numbers to the house as an aid to discussion.  House #13 is Franklin Academy, a brick building which still stands as # 77 Main Street.  #9 is the Baptist Church. We know #9 and #13 because the original manuscript map made by Barber exists.  You will note that there is no house #1.  It was omitted from the published view, see below. The Massachusetts Historical Society has the manuscript sketches made by John Warner Barber. This is what he drew, presumably on the day he visited Shelburne Falls, probably in 1838. I have n...

  Whoever heard of West Vermont State - extending all the way to Lake Erie?   A huge Vermont, divided into 3 sections, appears on an old manuscript map in the British Public Records Office. "Middle Verdmont" on the old map went from the Green Mountains to Lake Champlain. "West Verdmont" went fron Lake Champlain to Lake Erie.       Residents of Rochester and Syracuse may be surprised to learn that they might have been part of Vermont.  The heavy band "Verdmont State or everlasting Hills"  depicts the Green Mountains. "East Verdmont" is shown with lots of settlements along the Connecticut River.  The "270,000 souls" could be a population count for the entire area of Verdmont. (By the way "Verd" was archaic French for Green.)  The map needs more study to nail down the year it was drawn but it  may be ca 1780 as it refers to the United States of America. I have annotated my scan with bold type and the yellow shading to make it ...

 A key event in the American Revolution was the British abandonment of Boston in March 1776.  Months before the Declaration of Independence. They left because George Washington placed dozens of cannons on a hill overlooking the City.  When the Brits woke up to see the cannons they realized trouble was ahead and they loaded up their ships and went to Canada. Washington's cannons came from Fort Ticonderoga, 100s of miles away.  ================================================================== ========================================================     Over the years historians have attempted to find the actual road travelled.  We know the general route - the towns traveresed - but not the exact roads travelled. In 1927 a series of stone markers were placed at key points in NY and Mass.        Links https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Knox_Trail   

We were working on the 1854 map of Loudoun County , Virginia and noticed something very unusual: One of the five images included on the map was of a memorial monument to a woman. Who was Miss Mercer and why was this monument on the map? 1850s County wall maps showed all roads and homeowner names, and often had pictures decorating the margins. There are 5 pictures on this map, three of which are "public" properties - a Leesburg street view , a courthouse and old  house of former President Monroe . The other two relate to Margaret Mercer.   Margaret Mercer was an active  abolitionist and advocate for women's education. Her father was John Francis Mercer, governor of Maryland. He gave her a rigorous education equal to her brothers', and a solid Christian upbringing. After his death in 1821 Miss Mercer came to believe that the keeping of people as slaves did not square with her profound Christian faith. She freed the slaves she had inherited from her father.  ...

 Perhaps the oldest "picture" of Orange was printed in the 1839 book "Historical Collections ..." by John Warner Barber. This image is from the 2nd edition (1844) of the 600+ page book. The working sketch (below) was probably made by Mr. Warner in 1838, as the book was published in 1839. The numbers were added here for easier study.  This manuscript sketch is from the Massachusetts Historical Society. 1 2 3 4 ---

Rev:  March 2, 2025 ... d.allen Perhaps the oldest "picture" of Williamsburg was printed in the 1839 book "Historical Collections ..." by John Warner Barber. This image is from the 2nd edition (1844) of the 600+ page book. The working sketch was made by Mr. Barber in August 1937, per this drawing (below) from the online archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The numbers were added for easier study. The buildings, many of which stand today, have been identified by town historian Eric Weber: ***** Scroll to the bottom of this page to see Eric's more expansive text. ***** 1) Unknown house, long gone.   Site of present Historical Society Museum. 2) Methodist Church, built in 1832, dismantled ca. 1950. Now Veterans' Memorial Park. 3) "Gross Williams Esq." house, opened in 1812 as a tavern. Now a brewery /brew pub. 4)  House on land now occupied by Route 9 (Williams Street) & partly on lawn of the Meekins Library. Razed in 2003. 5) ...