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1944 Map of Beacon Hill

Name: 1944 Topographic Map of Beacon Hill
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1944
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1944

About this map

St Andrews Sound and the narrow barrier of Crooked Island dominate this mid-century coastal survey, reflecting the landscape of the Florida Panhandle during the Second World War. The terrain is characterized by a complex network of coastal wetlands and waterways, including the Gude Waterway and Wild Goose Lagoon. Small, isolated settlements like Davis Beach and Beacon Hill are linked by the coastal corridor of Route 98, which follows the shoreline through the transition from Gulf and Bay Counties.

The interior reveals family-named landmarks such as Preacher Bryant Pond and Joe Lamb Branch, illustrating how local heritage was etched into the hydrography of the region. This 1944 edition, produced by the Corps of Engineers, captures the area at a time when much of the coast remained undeveloped, with extensive marshlands and bays like Farmdale Bayou providing a detailed record of the natural shoreline before later twentieth-century changes.