A place to discuss North Carolina's cartographic history
There are only about thirteen known surviving copies of John Henry’s 1770 map of Virginia. One of these, in the Biblioteca nacional de España, was printed from an earlier state of the copper plates than all other known extant copies. Read more about it in the attached PDF.
What happened to the original North Carolina Map Blog? Why a new one?
Previous authors have recorded two states of James Cook’s 1773 map of the Province of South Carolina. A review of extant copies reveals three separate states.
At one point in time in the 18th Century, there were three British naval officers by the name of James Cook. One of these, a talented surveyor, was a resident of South Carolina during the years 1767 to 1776. Despite… Read moreThe libel of James Cook
Defining town limits as a circle probably ranks right behind firing on Fort Sumter on the list of bad ideas originating in the South. Circular town limits are virtually impossible to survey, as there is no straight line anywhere. A few towns in the South, no doubt in a decision celebrated by local surveyors, defined their town limits in the shape of an octagon, i.e. eight straight lines.
Circle towns, or round towns, for which the town boundary forms a circle, are found almost exclusively in the Southern states in the U.S.