Published in 1918 by the United States Geological Survey, “Framingham” presents a finely observed topographical portrait of eastern Massachusetts at a moment when old rural patterns and modern infrastructure overlapped. Although named for Framingham, the sheet embraces a broader historic landscape, including Concord and its surrounding towns, where waterways, roads, railroads, ponds, and village centers are rendered with the disciplined clarity characteristic of USGS mapping. At a scale of 1:62,500, it offers both regional breadth and practical detail, translating the rolling Middlesex County terrain into contour lines set at 20-foot intervals. The result is a map that is not merely navigational, but interpretive: a measured record of elevation, settlement, transport, and water in the early twentieth-century Boston hinterland.

The US Geological Survey had, by 1918, become the authoritative cartographic institution for documenting the physical form of the United States. Its topographic sheets were created for practical use—engineering, planning, resource management, military preparedness, and scientific study—but they now possess an understated aesthetic elegance. On this map, the USGS’s color-coded visual language distinguishes water, relief, roads, railways, and inhabited places with efficient precision. Contours sweep across the page in rhythmic patterns, revealing ridges, hollows, and drainage basins that ordinary road maps would ignore. The Framingham sheet demonstrates the Survey’s great achievement: making complex terrain legible without sacrificing geographic richness, and presenting the landscape as a coherent system of movement, settlement, and natural form.

Concord gives the map a particular historical resonance. Long associated with the opening conflict of the American Revolution and with the literary world of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Alcott, Concord appears here not as an isolated shrine, but as part of an interconnected working landscape. The Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers define the area’s hydrology, joining and winding through lowlands that shaped agriculture, roads, and settlement patterns. Nearby Walden Pond, one of the most culturally charged bodies of water in America, is placed within its physical setting rather than treated as myth alone. The map quietly restores context to famous places, showing how history, literature, ecology, and daily movement all emerged from the same terrain.

The surrounding towns—Framingham, Lincoln, Weston, Sudbury, Wayland, Bedford, Cochituate, and Waban—appear amid a web of roads and railroads that speaks to the changing character of the region. In 1918, this was an area increasingly tied to metropolitan Boston, yet still marked by open land, ponds, river corridors, and village centers. Lake Cochituate, Hart Pond, Wellens Pond, Nutting Lake, and numerous smaller waters punctuate the sheet, while local features such as Nine Acre Corner and Ravens Hill add a layer of intimate place-name history. The area around the present-day Brandeis University site is captured before that institution existed, offering a glimpse of the older landscape beneath later suburban and educational development.

What makes this map especially compelling is its record of transformation in progress. The contours reveal a gently varied New England topography of valleys, ridges, river flats, and wooded uplands, while the roads and rail lines anticipate the suburban expansion that would dramatically reshape the region over the following century. Many fields, routes, wetlands, and settlement edges shown here have since been altered by highways, housing, campuses, conservation areas, and changing land use. Yet the enduring structure of the landscape remains visible: rivers still gather in the lowlands, ponds still anchor communities, and town centers still follow patterns established long before 1918. As a historical document, “Framingham” captures Massachusetts at the threshold between rural memory and modern growth.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Concord
• Framingham
• Lincoln
• Weston
• Sudbury
• Wayland
• Bedford
• Cochituate
• Brandeis University
• Walden Pond
• Sudbury River
• Assabet River
• Concord River
• Lake Cochituate
• Hart Pond
• Nine Acre Corner
• Ravens Hill
• Wellens Pond
• Waban
• Nutting Lake
• State Forest
• Various railroads and roads traversing the area
• Smaller bodies of water, residential areas, and marked roads

Historical context & cartographic details

• Historical 1:62,500 topographical map showing Concord, Massachusetts, and surrounding areas.
• Created in 1918 by the US Geological Survey.
• Published by the US Geological Survey, known for comprehensive mapping of the United States and detailed topographical data.
• Features contour lines indicating elevation, with a contour interval of 20 feet.
• Uses color coding to distinguish different terrains and water bodies.
• Depicts elevations and depressions, including valleys and ridges.
• Shows physical features and infrastructure that may have changed over the past century due to urban development, environmental change, and land use transformation.

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 18x24in (45x60cm) 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.