Loading map...

1922 Map of White Lake

Name: 1922 Topographic Map of White Lake
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1935
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1935

About this map

Bethel and the surrounding Sullivan County landscape are defined by a complex network of small ponds and early transportation routes during the early 1920s. Historically significant thoroughfares like the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike and the Plank Road crisscross the terrain, linking remote hamlets such as Fosterdale, Tylertown, and Stevensville. This era reveals a transition from localized milling operations, evidenced by Falls Mill and Hanes Mill, toward a summer resort and recreational economy centered on White Lake, Lake Superior, and Pleasant Lake.

Genealogists can find precisely located rural infrastructure, including many one-room schoolhouses like the Mount Hope School, North Bethel School, and Bushville School. The map also captures the Dutch Settlement near the southern border and several small burial grounds such as Stewart Cemetery, providing a detailed view of the township’s social geography before mid-century modernization altered the rural character of the Catskills foothills.