Titled “Block Island,” this United States Geological Survey topographical map was created from 1899 mapping and issued with a 1912 imprint, offering a finely observed portrait of one of Rhode Island’s most storied offshore landscapes. Drawn at 1:62,500 scale, it presents Block Island not merely as a seaside destination, but as a working coastal world shaped by harbors, ponds, bluffs, beaches, and maritime approaches. Its distinct hues, measured contouring, and elegant period typography reflect the clarity and restraint of early twentieth-century American cartography. The result is a map of both practical precision and historical atmosphere, capturing the island at a moment when rural settlement, navigation, and summer resort culture were beginning to overlap more visibly.

The US Geological Survey brought to this map the disciplined methods that made its work indispensable to engineers, navigators, landowners, and public officials. Founded in the late nineteenth century, the USGS helped standardize the mapping of the American landscape through careful field observation, triangulation, and systematic topographic representation. Here, that national scientific ambition is applied to a compact but complex island terrain. Contour lines trace subtle rises and depressions, revealing the island’s rolling interior, coastal bluffs, and low-lying shores with a precision that ordinary nautical charts rarely conveyed. The map’s restrained design makes elevation, shoreline, roads, settlements, and landmarks legible at a glance, while preserving the distinctive visual charm of its era.

Block Island itself is shown as a place defined by water, exposure, and orientation. Great Salt Pond dominates the northern interior, opening toward New Harbor and suggesting the protected anchorage that would prove central to the island’s maritime and recreational life. Old Harbor, on the eastern side, marks the long-established point of arrival, its sheltered position tying the island to ferries, fishing, commerce, and summer visitors. Around the coastline appear evocative names—Cow Cove, West Beach, South Beach, Crescent Beach, and Sandy Point—each registering a different encounter between land and sea. The map allows the viewer to read Block Island as mariners and residents once did: by coves, lights, harbors, and wind-shaped shores.

The island’s landmarks speak powerfully to its navigational importance. North Light, set near Sandy Point, and South East Light, perched above the more dramatic southeastern coast, marked crucial aids for vessels moving through the often hazardous waters between Long Island Sound, Rhode Island, and the open Atlantic. Their presence on the map underscores Block Island’s role as both haven and warning in a busy maritime corridor. Inland, names such as Green Hill, Rodman’s Hollow, and The Corners suggest a settled agricultural community layered behind the beaches and bluffs. Roads and place names trace a human geography of farms, lanes, meeting points, and lookout positions, revealing an island not yet fully transformed by modern tourism.

Viewed today, the map is also a subtle environmental document. Its shorelines, ponds, beaches, and hollows record a coastal landscape before more than a century of development, erosion, conservation, storms, and climate pressure altered the island’s edges and habitats. Places such as Crescent Beach, Great Salt Pond, and Rodman’s Hollow carry ecological significance as well as historical resonance, their mapped forms inviting comparison with the present landscape. The USGS topographic style gives this comparison unusual depth, because it shows not only where features were, but how the land rose, dipped, and met the sea. “Block Island” therefore stands as a compelling record of geography, navigation, settlement, and environmental memory at the turn of the twentieth century.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Block Island
• Great Salt Pond
• New Harbor
• Old Harbor
• South East Light
• North Light
• Sandy Point
• Cow Cove
• Crescent Beach
• Rodman's Hollow
• Green Hill
• West Beach
• South Beach
• The Corners

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey.
• Historical 1:62,500 topographical map of Block Island, Rhode Island, and the surrounding coastal area.
• Dated 1899 and published with a 1912 imprint.
• Features a clear topographical layout with contour lines showing elevation changes.
• Rendered in a vintage early 20th-century cartographic style, with distinct hues and stylized typography.
• Shows Block Island as a historically significant coastal community and vacation destination.
• Provides insight into the island’s geography, including its elevation, coastline, ponds, harbors, and natural features.
• Records coastal landscapes and natural environments that may have changed since publication due to development, erosion, climate change, and other factors.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.