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1953 Map of Copake

Name: 1953 Topographic Map of Copake
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1965
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1965

About this map

The New York Central rail line carves through this Columbia County landscape, connecting the clustered hamlets of Copake Falls, Copake, and Boston Corner. This 1953 field-checked study reveals a rural economy shaped by a complex network of water and terrain, where the Roeliff Jansen Kill and Punch Brook navigate the lowlands around the massive Drowned Lands Swamp. To the east, the steep rise of Washburn Mountain and Alander Mtn marks the transition into Mount Washington State Park at the Massachusetts border.

Local history is preserved in the location of the West Copake Ch and numerous small settlements like Weed Mines and Whitehouse Crossing. The distribution of scattered ponds—including Robinson Pond, Snyder Pond, and the duo of Upper Rhoda Pond and Lower Rhoda Pond—defines the residential character of the western valleys. The map provides a precise record of the mid-century road network and property boundaries just before modern development began to shift the rural agricultural character of Ancram and Copake.