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1894 Map of Plymouth

Name: 1894 Topographic Map of Plymouth
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1904
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1904

About this map

Plymouth Harbor and the surrounding coastline of the South Shore appear here in the final decade of the nineteenth century, as surveyed in 1885-6. The regional dominance of the Old Colony Railroad Plymouth Division is evident, connecting coastal hubs like Kingston and Plymouth to the interior. The interior landscape is defined by an immense density of freshwater bodies, ranging from the large Billington Sea and Great South Pond to dozens of smaller, isolated kettle ponds.

Coastal landmarks such as the Duxbury Pier Light and prominent elevations like Manomet Hill provided essential orientation for mariners entering Warren Cove. Further south, the map details the early footprints of Wareham and Sagamore, showing a transport network composed of the Old Colony Railroad Cape Cod Branch and historic thoroughfares like Halfway Pond Road. This survey documents a critical period before modern development, where the economy was still closely tied to maritime trade and the complex hydrology of the coastal plain.