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1954 Map of Cotton Plant

Name: 1954 Topographic Map of Cotton Plant
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1977
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1977

About this map

Cotton Plant and its surrounding rural hamlets are captured here during a period defined by phosphate mining and railroad transit in Marion County. The landscape is dotted with numerous small bodies of water and wet depressions, such as Hog Pond, Carter Pond, and the expansive Sturgis Prairie. This mid-century survey documents the spatial relationship between small agricultural communities and the heavy industry of the era, evidenced by a Mine near Early Bird and multiple Gravel Pits concentrated around the settlement of York.

Transportation corridors dominate the geography, with the Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line railroads cutting across the terrain to serve local industry and passenger traffic. For the genealogist, the map preserves the locations of several country churches that served these dispersed communities, including Mars Hill Ch, Siloam Ch, Friendship Ch, and Jerusalem Ch. The proximity of Schoolhouse Pond to the center of the quadrangle suggests the vanished locations of local civic life in this corner of Florida.