This item has been sold, but you can get on the Waitlist to be notified if another example becomes available, or purchase a digital scan.

1890 U. S. Geological Survey Chart or Map of Nantucket, Massachusetts (Set of 2 Maps)

NantucketMuskeget-usgs-1890
$150.00
Massachusetts. Nantucket sheet. Massachusetts. Muskeget sheet. - Main View
Processing...

1890 U. S. Geological Survey Chart or Map of Nantucket, Massachusetts (Set of 2 Maps)

NantucketMuskeget-usgs-1890

Set of topographical maps of Nantucket Island.

Title


Massachusetts. Nantucket sheet. Massachusetts. Muskeget sheet.
  1890 (dated 1887)     20 x 29 in (50.8 x 73.66 cm)     1 : 62500

Description


This is a set of two 1890 topographical maps produced by the U.S. Geological Survey. The left sheet depicts the Muskeget Channel. Extends eastward from Martha's Vineyard to include Muskeget Island, Tuckernuck Island, and the eastern parts of Nantucket.

The right sheet features a map of Nantucket and covers the island from Great Neck to the Atlantic. Identifies topographical features such as the Shawkemo Hills, Alter Rock Hills, Folgers Hill, Gibbs Pond, Mioxes Pond, Miacomet Pond, and the Head of Hummunock. Also notes the various roads traversing the islands and the Nantucket - Siasconsett Railroad. Identifies the Sankaty Head Lighthouse, the Nantucket Cliff Beacons, the Brant Point Lighthouse and the Nantucket Lighthouse at Great Point.

The maps offer copious topographical detail as well as some submarine detail as well as towns, roads, and some individual buildings. Prepared by Henry Gannett, Marcus Baker, and E. B. Clark. These are two of the most sought after topographical maps produced by the U.S. Geological Survey. Both charts are drawn from survey work completed by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1887.

Cartographer


The Office of the Coast Survey (later the U.S. Geodetic Survey) (1807 - present), founded in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Commerce Albert Gallatin, is the oldest scientific organization in the U.S. Federal Government. Jefferson created the "Survey of the Coast," as it was then called, in response to a need for accurate navigational charts of the new nation's coasts and harbors. The first superintendent of the Coast Survey was Swiss immigrant and West Point mathematics professor Ferdinand Hassler. Under the direction of Hassler, from 1816 to 1843, the ideological and scientific foundations for the Coast Survey were established. Hassler, and the Coast Survey under him developed a reputation for uncompromising dedication to the principles of accuracy and excellence. Hassler lead the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, at which time Alexander Dallas Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, took the helm. Under the leadership A. D. Bache, the Coast Survey did most of its most important work. During his Superintendence, from 1843 to 1865, Bache was steadfast advocate of American science and navigation and in fact founded the American Academy of Sciences. Bache was succeeded by Benjamin Pierce who ran the Survey from 1867 to 1874. Pierce was in turn succeeded by Carlile Pollock Patterson who was Superintendent from 1874 to 1881. In 1878, under Patterson's superintendence, the U.S. Coast Survey was reorganized as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS or USGS) to accommodate topographic as well as nautical surveys. Today the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA. More by this mapmaker...

Condition


Very good. Minor foxing. Set of two maps.

References


Rumsey 2883.054, 2883.050.