The Map – Place in Portraiture
 
Here is a gallery of seven select portraits of New London, Connecticut; each rich in graphical and historical character – from a hand-drawn chart of the aboriginal wilderness to a satellite snapshot of today's rooftops.
 
Here, too, are elaborate Dutch cartouches, bucolic Victorian vignettes, precise geodetic lines, and a playfully panoramic "birds-eye" view of an early 20th century port city – jaunty against the inland hills, her confident shores toeing the open sea.
 
[Click on any image below to see more.]

1614 – Block:  Chart of 1614
 
This large hand-penned vellum [a portion shown at left] is the earliest extant European record of the features of Long Island Sound – including the estuary now known as the Thames River and New London Harbor.
 
Although this chart did accompany the Dutch ship Onrust ("Restless") on her exploratory voyage of 1614 and is a work generally credited to her renowned captain, Adriaen Block; many details (i.e.; those in red ink) had already been outlined by the unsung Dutch mapmaker Cornelis Doetsz during his own expeditions to this area in 1611-12.

1635 – Blaeu:  Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova
 
It was the Golden Age of Dutch mapmaking and no one did it better than the House of Blaeu. This richly illustrated, annotated, and hand-colored copper engraving [a portion shown at left] is a masterpiece. Further, it was the first published map to incorporate the observations of Block's Chart of 1614 (above).
 
What took so long? Navigational details of the New World could be held for years as commercial secrets by fur-traders like Adriaen Block, his sponsors, and the Dutch government itself.
 
Why does it look like Baja California? Because, on this chart, "up" is not north – it's west.

1854 – Baker / Walling:  Map of New London County, Connecticut
 
Published by William E. Baker of Philadelphia from surveys directed by H.F. Walling of Boston, engraved in stone by E. Herrlein and printed by Wagner & McGuigan of Philadelphia, this is a relentlessly beautiful and informative map flowing with fancy letters, bordered with a trellis of idyllic scenes, and featuring views recorded by William H. Jennings, "Daguarreian Artist" of Norwich [e.g.; "Music Vale Seminary & Normal Academy of Music at Salem ... Has been established about 15 years & is highly popular."]
 
With detailed city insets and summaries of school, church, farm, and population figures for the year 1850, this is a map any local history buff could study for hours.

Ibidem
 
Interesting detail from 1854 map (above).
 
Tables of population, school, and church statistics for the year 1850.

1895 – Rand McNally & Co.:  New 11x14 Map of Connecticut
 
A handsome and straightforward work that looks "familiar" to the modern eye. The site also provides population data for every place important enough to have a post office or whistle stop in 1895.
 
The full state map is a very large image file (2579 x 1692 pixels) that will take some time to download. The smaller county maps take less time to download, but are not as fine in color and resolution.

1911 – Hughes & Bailey:  Aero View of New London, Connecticut
 
If you're old enough to remember New London before the "urban renewal" days you'll really enjoy this bird's eye view of the old city, especially if you view it while reading Touring Eugene O'Neill's New London by Robert A. Richter —
 

"Due to urban renewal in the 1960s, Bradley Street no longer exists, but during O'Neill's day it hummed with activity. At the turn of the last century traveling salesmen reported that New London had 'the liveliest, most wide-open red-light district between New York and Boston.' Bradley Street was the district's hub, even though the New London Police Headquarters was located here." — page 2

1893-1949 – U.S. Geological Survey:  New London, Connecticut
 
The classic "quadrangle" maps – large, detailed, and no-nonsense. Of particular interest is the changing route of US-1 through New London and across the river into Groton.
 
The "Map & Compass" link at right leads to a thorough tutorial on how to read the topographical maps published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

2007 – Google Maps:  Latitude 41.35435  Longitude -72.09595
 
Here I am !
 
This interactive Google street map is centered on the "global position" of my humble abode. Once you are on the Google Maps page, click the "Satellite" tab to view a coordinated high-altitude image.
 
Click, zoom, and scroll about my neck of the woods.