1907 Map of Sandisfield

About this map

The West Branch Farmington River and its tributaries define the landscape of the southern Berkshires and northern Litchfield County at the turn of the century. This survey, based on 1886 field work, reveals a network of upland villages and mills situated along steep-gradient waterways. The massive Otis Reservoir dominates the eastern highlands, feeding the Farmington River system that flows south through New Boston and across the Massachusetts-Connecticut boundary. Small manufacturing and agricultural hubs such as Montville, Southfield, and Tyringham are connected by a web of carriage roads, while the rugged topography is punctuated by family-named peaks like Filley Mt and Hunger Mt. In the southern portion of the sheet, the village of North Colebrook sits near the winding Sandy Brook, illustrating the persistence of small-scale water-powered industry in these narrow river valleys before the large-scale industrial shifts of the twentieth century.