Titled “Cooperstown,” this historical US Geological Survey topographical map was created in 1909 and issued with a 1915 imprint, capturing a richly detailed portrait of central New York in the early twentieth century. At a scale of 1:62,500, it places Cooperstown at the heart of a landscape defined by lakes, river valleys, rural roads, railways, and rising uplands. The map’s disciplined use of contour lines gives the terrain an almost sculptural clarity, revealing the folds and elevations around Otsego Lake and the upper Susquehanna River. It is both a scientific document and a period view of a region whose towns, transport routes, and patterns of settlement were still closely shaped by topography.

The US Geological Survey, founded in 1879, brought a new standard of precision and authority to American mapmaking, and this Cooperstown sheet reflects the agency’s early twentieth-century commitment to systematic national mapping. Rather than presenting the landscape as a picturesque scene, the USGS rendered it as measurable terrain: elevations, waterways, roads, rail lines, and settlements organized with clarity and restraint. The color conventions and contouring are characteristic of the era, when topographic maps became essential tools for engineers, planners, geologists, travelers, and local administrators. In this map, scientific rigor is joined to visual elegance, offering a refined record of how federal cartography interpreted the rural Northeast before modern highways and suburban expansion altered its geography.

Cooperstown itself, set near the southern end of Otsego Lake, forms the natural focal point of the map. Long associated with James Fenimore Cooper and later renowned for its baseball heritage, the village appears here within its broader geographic setting: a lakeside settlement framed by hills, streams, roads, and neighboring communities. Otsego Lake, sometimes celebrated as “Glimmerglass” in literary tradition, is one of the map’s most striking features, its elongated form anchoring the northern portion of the sheet. From this lake region, the terrain descends toward the headwaters of the Susquehanna River, one of the great rivers of the eastern United States, whose early course is carefully traced through the surrounding valleys.

Beyond Cooperstown, the map records a network of small towns and rural communities that defined the region’s social and economic life. Middlefield, Westford, Milford, Hartwick, Fly Creek, Sidney, and Tustin appear amid a web of local roads, trails, and railways, revealing patterns of movement before automobile travel fully reshaped the countryside. Rail lines, in particular, hint at the commercial connections that linked farms, villages, mills, and markets across Otsego County and beyond. The placement of settlements along waterways and valley routes demonstrates the practical logic of early development, where transportation, agriculture, and terrain were intimately connected. As a result, the map is an evocative guide to a working rural landscape.

The topographic character of the Cooperstown region is one of the map’s great pleasures. Closely spaced contour lines mark steep hillsides, while broader intervals indicate gentler valleys and plateaus, allowing the viewer to read the land’s undulating rhythm at a glance. These elevations are not decorative embellishments but the organizing structure of the map, explaining the courses of streams, the siting of roads, and the distribution of villages. Viewed today, the sheet offers a compelling comparison between the early twentieth-century countryside and the transformed landscape of the present. It preserves a moment when Cooperstown and its surrounding communities were still embedded in a quieter geography of farms, rail corridors, lake shores, and wooded uplands.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Cooperstown
• Middlefield
• Westford
• Milford
• Hartwick
• Sidney
• Tustin
• Fly Creek
• Otsego Lake
• Susquehanna River
• Various roads, trails and railways
• Nearby elevations and landforms depicted by contour lines

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey
• Historical 1:62,500 topographical map of Cooperstown, New York and the surrounding area
• Created in 1909 with a publication date of 1915
• The US Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the U.S. government known for geological surveying, mapping and earth sciences
• Uses contour lines to show elevation changes and the undulating landscape of hills and valleys
• Features a color scheme designed to distinguish landforms
• Reflects early 20th-century cartographic conventions, with an emphasis on terrain
• Provides insight into the early 20th-century geographic understanding of the Cooperstown region
• Shows areas that have since experienced urban development and changes in land use, especially around Cooperstown and its surroundings

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.