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1947 Map of Stephentown Center

Name: 1947 Topographic Map of Stephentown Center
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1947
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1947

About this map

The Capital District Forest and Game Refuge dominates the northern uplands of this Rensselaer County landscape, where the ridges of Stephentown and Berlin meet. The 1940s terrain is marked by a network of high-elevation points and lookout infrastructure, including the Seven Hill Firetower and an Airway Beacon situated atop Turner Mountain. Settlement patterns follow the hollows and creek beds, with small communities like Dunham Hollow and West Stephentown linked by winding mountain roads.

Water features such as Black River Pond and Stump Pond feed numerous tributaries like Roaring Brook and Kinderhook Creek, which carves through the southern valley near Garfield. For genealogists, the map preserves the locations of several burial grounds, including Hillside Cem and Presbyterian Hill Cem. This post-war survey illustrates a rural New York economy transitioning from traditional upland farming, represented by names like Buckwheat Hill, toward conservation and managed forest lands.