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1893 Map of New Bedford

Name: 1893 Topographic Map of New Bedford
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1925
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1925

About this map

New Bedford serves as the industrial and maritime anchor of this late 19th-century coastal survey, situated where the Acushnet River meets the expansive Buzzards Bay. The map documents a densely developed harbor network, showing the intricate grid of the city alongside neighboring Fairhaven and the outlying fishing and residential pockets of South Dartmouth and Mattapoisett. Maritime safety is marked by several key beacons, including Clark Point Light and the Dumpling Rock Light House off Round Hill Point.

Transportation patterns of the era are defined by the convergence of the New Bedford Branch of Old Colony Railroad and the Fall River and New Bedford Railroad, which facilitated the movement of goods from the interior to the docks. Beyond the urban centers, the landscape transitions into extensive wetlands and family-named points like Slocums Neck and Mattapoisett Neck, illustrating a period when shorefront development was concentrated in specific harbor settlements while much of the surrounding coastline remained defined by its natural topography and small mill sites like Turners Mills.