1945 Map of Ashland

About this map

The Batavia Kill valley serves as the central artery for this portion of the northern Catskills, where the settlement of Ashland sits along N. Y. 23. This 1945 landscape, based on field surveys from the mid-1940s with later 1970s revisions, illustrates a transition from traditional upland farming to protected forest lands within Catskill Park. The geography is defined by high peaks like Huntersfield Mountain and Richmond Mountain, which wall in narrow agricultural valleys. Traces of early 20th-century rural life are visible in the locations of School No 2 and small hamlets like West Settlement and North Settlement. To the south, the East Kill drainage highlights the township of Jewett, where West Jewett and Beecher Corners represent the quiet, scattered nature of these high-elevation communities before the expansion of modern mountain recreation.