Loading map...

1955 Map of Elizabethtown

Name: 1955 Topographic Map of Elizabethtown
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1958
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1958

About this map

The Cape Fear River winds through this mid-century landscape, serving as the central axis for the town of Elizabethtown. The map illustrates a region defined by its unique "Carolina Bay" geography, with numerous elliptical depressions such as White Lake, Salters Lake, and Jones Lake appearing as distinct features in the Turnbull State Forest. This period shows the transition of the local economy from river-based transit, evidenced by a Barge Landing, to a rail-and-road network dominated by the Virginia and Carolina Southern and the Seaboard Air Line railroads.

Rural life is densely documented through a network of country churches and schools, including Washington High Sch and Baldin Branch Ch. Notable community landmarks of the era include the Drive-in Theater west of Dublin and the Jones Lake Lookout Tower. The drainage patterns of Brown Marsh Swamp and Wookie Swamp illustrate the complex hydrology that shaped settlement patterns in Bladen County during the 1950s.