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1895 Map of Piedmont

Name: 1895 Topographic Map of Piedmont
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1906
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1906

About this map

The Fairfax Stone marks a critical historical vertex on this survey of the Allegheny highlands, where the North Branch Potomac River carves through the landscape. This era is defined by the industrial expansion of the Baltimore and Ohio R.R. and the W.V.C. & P. R.R., which facilitated the movement of coal and timber from mountain settlements like Piedmont and Elk Garden. The terrain is characterized by massive ridges such as Backbone Mountain and New Creek Mountain, which forced early transport networks to follow gaps and river valleys.

Industrial sites like Rees Tannery and small communities such as Sulphur City and Hartmonsville illustrate the localized economy of the late nineteenth century. The map meticulously documents the drainage patterns of the Savage River and Stony River, alongside numerous mountain gaps like Greenland Gap and Cosner Gap, providing a window into the challenging geography that shaped the development of West Virginia and Maryland's borderlands.