Historical Panoramic Maps and Your Town

I’m not claiming to be one of those women who is actually good with maps, but I do enjoy looking at them. My interest started about ten years ago when I browsed an antique store in Conyers, Georgia. I found a basket of old prints and one of them was a map of Georgia from 1881 (shown on the right).

(Sorry about the flash reflection. A photographer I am not!)

Thanks to a tip from a member of the GEN-NEWBIE forum (http://www.rootsweb.com/~newbie), I found a treasure trove of panoramic maps from the 1847 - 1929. For those of you that don’t know, panoramic maps illustrate the streets and buildings of both small towns and large cities in intricate detail. The scale may not be right, but they’re fun to look at -- like a glimpse of your town right after your plane takes off. The cars look like ants and the houses like Chiclets:



To view these maps, go to: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/

Select the Maps link, followed by the Panoramic Maps link. (I found the areas I was interested in by selecting the “Geographical Location” link.)

As you’ll see, this Web site is a bonanza for American history buffs. And of course, where there’s history, there’s genealogy. (Or vice versa.)

~Mary Kaye