A few months ago, I attended a lecture at the Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem. While there, I had the opportunity to see several manuscript and printed maps of Forsyth County displayed on the walls of the Archives. Continue reading “Treasures of the Moravian Archives – E. A. Vogler’s 1863 Map of Forsyth County”
It’s August, which means most of us are thinking about the start of school, even those of us who aren’t in school as students or teachers (think traffic). Let’s take a look at a few very scarce 19th Century published school maps of North Carolina. Continue reading “Early North Carolina school maps”
The June 9, 1868, issue of The Daily Journal (Wilmington, NC) includes an interesting story on page 3, pertaining to a map of Cape Fear on a mug.
The Daily Journal, Wilmington, NC, 9 June 1868, Tuesday, page 3:
A RELIC.– We have before us a most interesting relic of the past, surrounded with peculiar importance because of its interest being of a strictly local character. This relic is an old English earthen mug, equal in capacity to a quart measure, bearing upon its outside face, “a map of Cape Fear River and its vicinity from the Frying Pan Shoals to Wilmington; by actual survey.” This mug was given to the late Mr. Junius Davis, of Brunswick County, 10 years ago by one Miss Faulkes, an old maiden lady, whose family had owned it for 70 years previous to that time. There was also in the possession of the Faulkes family another mug, similar in shape and appearance, bearing a map showing the river above Wilmington, which was unfortunately broken. Continue reading “Cape Fear map mug”
Conetoe: A small but wonderful community in eastern Edgecombe County, about 6 miles southeast of Tarboro.
First, let’s get the pronunciation correct; it’s cuh-NEAT-uh, according to the NC Gazetteer. Don’t even think about pronouncing it Cone Toe. Ok, I’ll confess, I can’t help but think “Cone Toe” when I see Conetoe. It sure would help if they would revert to the original spelling. What is the source of this town’s unusual name? Continue reading “What’s in a name? Conetoe, NC”
The 1820s saw the maturation of cartographic publishing in the United States, heralding the “Golden Age of American Cartography”.1 Atlas publishers in the first years of this era included, Carey & Lea, Fielding Lucas, Henry Tanner, and Anthony Finley.
The above map of North Carolina was published in the 1824 first edition of Anthony Finley’s A New General Atlas Comprising a Complete Set of Maps… Continue reading “NC cartobibliography: Anthony Finley”
This map of NC/SC, with a curious imprint, “Published by James T. Paterson”, contains no date or place of publication.
Continue reading “James T. Paterson – Confederate dentist and map publisher”
Fielding Lucas Jr. first advertised an “Elegant New Atlas” as published and for sale on 10 February 1814, claiming, “There being now no other genuine Modern Atlas of the United States, nor any other likely to be had for some time to come –“.[1] He was half correct. Continue reading “North Carolina maps in Fielding Lucas atlases”
Mathew Carey published his first “Carey’s American Pocket Atlas” in 1796. The engraved plate for this map of North Carolina was used in later issues of Carey’s pocket atlas in 1801, 1802, 1805, 1806, and 1810. Updates to the plate appeared with the 1801 and 1805 editions of Carey’s pocket atlas. Continue reading “Carey’s Pocket Atlas Maps of North Carolina”
In “What map is this?” Part 1 and Part 2, cartobibliographic resources useful in identification of North Carolina maps were discussed. In this segment, we’ll provide all the nitty-gritty details needed to correctly identify and date a series of 19th century atlas maps of “North & South Carolina” (ignoring the awful grammar inherent to that map title). Continue reading “What map is this? Burr or Greenleaf?”
NC Canals… Do you ever find yourself staring at an old map and wondering, “Where on earth did this map come from?” That question was recently prompted by a small undated map with no publisher imprint. The map is titled N. & S. CAROLINA and GEORGIA.
Fielding Lucas, Jr. (1781—1854) was an outstanding early 19th century American cartographer and map publisher, artist, musician, stationer, and civic leader. He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, moved to Philadelphia for work and/or education as a teenager, and spent his professional career in Baltimore. Two of his published maps pertain to Tennessee, aka “western North Carolina” (yes, I’m justifying their inclusion in the North Carolina Map Blog). Neither of these maps is recorded by Philips in A List of Maps of America in the Library of Congress..., or by Wells in A Checklist of Tennessee Maps, 1820-1830. The maps are also not described by Ristow in American Maps and Mapmakers. These two maps have been long lost and forgotten… until now. Continue reading “Fielding Lucas, Jr.’s forgotten maps of Tennessee”
If you believe the map, the Cape Fear & Yadkin Rail Road was the first railroad completed within the state of North Carolina.
The map was wrong. Continue reading “Cape Fear & Yadkin Rail Road: NC’s first….or not.”
