Titled “Durham,” this United States Geological Survey topographical map was published with a 1922 imprint from original survey work completed in 1894, preserving a late nineteenth-century view through the refined cartographic conventions of the early twentieth century. At a scale of 1:62,500, it presents Woodstock, New York, and the surrounding Catskill region with the precision for which the USGS became renowned. The map captures an era before modern highways, suburban expansion, and later environmental change reshaped the landscape. Roads, settlements, streams, and relief are organized into a coherent portrait of a rural mountain district, where towns were still closely tied to terrain, watercourses, farms, quarries, forest paths, and the difficult contours of upland travel.

The visual power of the map lies in its intricate brown contour work, which gives the Catskill topography an almost sculptural quality. Elevation lines gather tightly along slopes and open across gentler ground, allowing the eye to read ridges, hollows, valleys, and upland plateaus with remarkable immediacy. This was a period when topographic mapping was becoming essential not only for navigation, but also for geology, forestry, engineering, education, and land management. The US Geological Survey’s disciplined style—clear lettering, systematic symbols, and measured relief—turns the mountainous landscape into both scientific record and visual composition. The result is a map that feels analytical and atmospheric at once, especially in its rendering of the Catskills’ rugged, hilly terrain.

Woodstock appears within a broader regional network of Catskill communities, roads, trails, and natural features. Today the town is famous for its artistic identity and cultural associations, but this map records an earlier Woodstock: a small settlement embedded in a landscape of hills, streams, farms, and mountain routes. Nearby places such as Jewett, Windham, Durham, Greenville, and Rensselaerville help situate the area within the larger geography of the northern Catskills and adjacent uplands. The map’s attention to roads and tracks is especially evocative, showing how movement through the region followed valleys, crossed ridges, and responded to the dictates of slope and drainage long before the dominance of modern automobile corridors.

The surrounding Catskill Mountains give the map much of its historical and aesthetic interest. This region had already attracted nineteenth-century travelers, artists, naturalists, and summer visitors drawn by mountain air, dramatic scenery, and proximity to the Hudson Valley. Towns such as Windham and Jewett were part of a landscape where agriculture, logging, small industry, and seasonal tourism overlapped. The contours reveal why settlement patterns took the forms they did: hamlets gather where terrain permits, roads trace practical passages, and rivers and streams carve the routes of human use. In this sense, the map is not merely a record of place names, but a portrait of the physical forces that shaped local history.

As a USGS production, “Durham” belongs to a major national project: the systematic mapping of the United States according to consistent scientific standards. Its careful depiction of Woodstock and the surrounding Catskill country offers a valuable snapshot of land use, settlement, and natural form at the turn of the century. The contrast between the 1894 survey and 1922 imprint also gives the map a layered historical character, joining field observations from one era with the publishing practices of another. For collectors, historians, and admirers of mountain cartography, it is especially compelling for the way it combines technical accuracy with the quiet drama of a deeply contoured landscape.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Woodstock, NY
• Rensselaerville, NY
• Greenville, NY
• Durham, NY
• Jewett, NY
• Windham, NY
• Hunter, NY
• Catskill, NY
• Various roads and trails
• Natural features such as hills and rivers

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey as a historical 1:62,500 topographical map.
• Original survey completed in 1894, with a published imprint dated 1922.
• Shows Woodstock, New York, and the surrounding Catskill region.
• Uses brown elevation contours to depict topographic relief and hilly terrain.
• Features detailed contour lines illustrating elevations, landforms, and the rugged geography of the Catskill Mountains.
• Provides a historical view of the area before significant urban development and environmental change.
• Reflects early 20th-century cartographic style and USGS mapping standards.

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.