Old Map Research Sites

[Beartoe]

It is raining outside. If it were a few degrees colder it would be snowing. The end of the warm hunting season is at hand and I am already looking forward to doing research for next years hunt.

I have found a local history museum that allows for research for a small yearly fee. I will be using their help to find old locations for hunting.

The internet is a great place for research. I know there are sites out there that I am not familiar with.

What are some of the internet sites that you visit to do research for future hunts?

 

[Full Metal Digger]

Historicmapworks.com! Awesome site for us MDers. Most of the old maps are overlaid on Google Earth and you can fade between the old map and satellite image. Great for finding old schools and such that are now cornfields. Also, Google historic aerial photos for your state. An extensive photo survey was done 1938-1941 for pretty much most of the inhabited USA.

 

[Skamaniac]

Check your county website and local museum websites too. I found some old property line maps that way that told me where some old farms were back in the 20's to the 40's.

 

[Clint in KY]

I have had great success with http://historicaerials.com/ - A combination of Aerial Photography and Topographic maps in a very user friendly format. Type in a place name - chose what format you want to view and then click the "Compare" button and select "Slide". You will get a split map or photo and the option to chose another date photo or topo. By using topo maps you can compare what is here today with what was there then. Great way to see where old structures were.

I chat with the older residents in the area and they tell stories of skating rinks and Gin Joints down by the lake. All I need is one landmark to find the area, see what was there in the '30s & '40s and check to see if the land is open now. I have researched a half dozen sites which to hunt. I have found the foundation of the Party Pavilion that shows on the 1938 topo but not on the 1957 map. I will have to wait till hunting season is over as it is in a wooded area subject to folks with rifles and such.

 

[POKIE73]

i wish that some of you on this forum that are good at the computer give a tutorial about how to use these maps some of us have a great deal of trouble trying to use them dennis

 

[Skamaniac]

I chat with the older residents in the area and they tell stories of skating rinks and Gin Joints down by the lake. All I need is one landmark to find the area, see what was there in the '30s & '40s and check to see if the land is open now.

Clint makes an excellent point. Talking to old timers has given me some great leads on old farmsteads, sawmills, schoolhouses, and railroads. Anymore though, it's getting harder and harder to find people that have been around that long.

 

[Clint in KY]

i wish that some of you on this forum that are good at the computer give a tutorial about how to use these maps some of us have a great deal of trouble trying to use them dennis

If you are having difficulties with a certain site PM me and I will do my best to go to the site and figure out how to use it.
Having made my living with computers for many years with computers gives me some advantage when mucking about on some sites.

One word of encouragement though - Just go to the site and click buttons and look at the drop down menus and generally look around. You will not break anything if you do. If you get completely lost, just click the red X in the upper right corner and close the page. You then can go back and do it all again. After a while you will see how the controls work and be able to navigate to that for which you were looking.