1972 Map of Charlottesville West

About this map

The southern Piedmont landscape of central Virginia is revealed in this 1972 aerial study, where the distinctive landforms of the Ragge Mountains dominate the southwestern terrain. This orthophotomap, produced through the cooperation of James L. Calver and the Commonwealth of Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, provides a precise visual record of the region's mid-century development. The expanding transportation network is anchored by Route 250, which cuts an east-west path across the center of the sheet. The imagery captures the transition between the rolling wooded uplands and the increasingly organized agricultural and suburban plots surrounding the urban fringe. By using corrected aerial photography rather than traditional topographic lines, this survey offers researchers a literal view of tree cover, field boundaries, and road alignments exactly as they existed during the early 1970s.