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1944 Map of West Bay

Name: 1944 Topographic Map of West Bay
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1944
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1944

About this map

The coastal village of West Bay serves as the focal point for this 1943 survey, situated where the Intracoastal Waterway cuts through the marshy lowland terrain. The landscape is defined by an intricate network of tidal creeks and bayous, including Crooked Creek and Burnt Mill Creek, which drain the dense pine and cypress swamps into the larger West Bay basin. Prominent coastal features such as Walsonham Point and Breakfast Point mark the irregular southern shoreline, illustrating the transition between the freshwater branches and the brackish bay.

The map reveals a sparsely settled interior, with early roads and property sections winding around natural barriers like Big Lily Bay and Kelly Branch. This survey, conducted by F. H. Sargent and B. O. Fridge for the War Department, captures the region just as the waterway was becoming a vital inland artery, contrasting the established settlement at the bay's edge with the remote, named marshes like Bear Bay to the north.