Published and imprinted in 1983, “New Iberia North” presents the United States Geological Survey’s finely measured portrait of south-central Louisiana at a moment of late twentieth-century change. As a provisional topographical map, it carries the particular fascination of a working government document: authoritative, data-rich, and issued while refinements to accuracy or completeness may still have been anticipated. At the precise 1:24,000 scale, the sheet translates the landscape around New Iberia into a language of contour lines, waterways, roads, railroads, and settlement patterns. Its subject is not dramatic elevation but subtle terrain, where even slight rises and low-lying drainage features matter. The result is an elegant technical view of a region shaped by bayous, agriculture, transportation corridors, and expanding urban life.

The USGS, founded in 1879, became the great cartographic interpreter of the American landscape, and this map reflects the institution’s disciplined visual grammar. Every line has a purpose: contours describe the soft relief of the coastal plain, roads knit together towns and rural parcels, and watercourses reveal the logic of settlement. In a place like Iberia Parish, where land and water interlace, topographical mapping is especially revealing. The map’s restrained design allows the complexity of the terrain to emerge without ornament, presenting New Iberia not simply as a city but as part of a broader environmental system. Scientific survey data and practical usability meet here, creating a map suited to planners, engineers, residents, travelers, and anyone seeking to understand the region’s physical structure.

New Iberia itself appears as the principal urban presence, its street pattern and developed areas set against surrounding farmland, open ground, and transportation lines. By 1983, the city had long been a cultural center of Acadiana, shaped by French, Spanish, Creole, and Cajun histories, as well as by the agricultural and oil-related economies of southern Louisiana. The map captures the city’s footprint before subsequent decades of suburban growth, road improvements, and changing land use further altered the view. Nearby landmarks, parcels, and infrastructural features give the sheet the quality of a civic snapshot. It records not only where people lived and moved, but also how the built environment pressed into the surrounding rural landscape.

Bayou Teche is among the defining features of the region and gives the map much of its historical and geographic resonance. This celebrated waterway, winding through the heart of Acadiana, served for centuries as a corridor of Indigenous travel, colonial settlement, commerce, and plantation agriculture. Its presence on the map reminds the viewer that in Louisiana, rivers and bayous are not merely scenic details; they are organizing forces. Lake Poche and other watery features reinforce the sense of a landscape dependent on drainage, seasonal moisture, and low relief. The careful delineation of water bodies, banks, and nearby roads underscores the delicate relationship between habitation and hydrology in a part of the Gulf Coast where land is always in conversation with water.

To the north and east, the wider setting reaches toward places such as Saint Martinville, another historic community associated with Bayou Teche and the cultural mythology of Acadiana. Smaller localities such as Gertrude, along with unnamed roads, railroads, and agricultural parcels, enrich the map with the texture of everyday geography. These details evoke a working landscape of fields, crossings, homesteads, and movement, where regional identity is embedded in both natural features and human networks. As a 1983 USGS provisional topographical map, “New Iberia North” is compelling because it balances precision with historical immediacy. It preserves a measured view of New Iberia’s northern environs at a specific moment, before later development and environmental change redrew parts of the local scene.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• New Iberia
• Saint Martinville
• Bayou Teche
• Lake Poche
• Gertrude
• Various unnamed roads
• Railroads indicated on the map
• Landmarks within New Iberia
• Nearby parcels of farmland and natural resources

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)
• Created and imprinted in 1983
• Topographical map using USGS survey data
• Issued as a provisional map, indicating its accuracy or completeness may still have been subject to refinement at the time of publication
• Features clear contour lines representing elevation changes
• Uses a precise 1:24,000 scale, useful for detailed navigation and geographic understanding
• Shows both natural and artificial features, including bodies of water, roads, terrain elevation, and urban layout
• Reflects the geographical features and urban development of the New Iberia area in 1983
• May help illustrate how land use has changed over subsequent decades
• Demonstrates a blend of scientific survey data and practical usability for residents and visitors in 1983

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.