Maps

Like photography, maps have strong visual impact and are usually seen as authentic descriptions of places. Unfortunately, mapmakers are fallible or have hidden agendas in portraying features on the ground. More that one war has been fought over erroneous information on maps. These documents must be evaluated carefully for authenticity.

This is part of an 1877 County Atlas showing Hampton and the surrounding area. The size of the Hampton estate is rather large, stretching nearly 2 1/2 miles North/South. However, you can see development from Baltimore and Towsontown encroaching on the once rural area. (Please click on the image to enlarge it).

This is from the same 1877 County Atlas as the first illustration and shows the area directly south of the Hampton Estate including then expanding Towsontown. Here the development and partitioning of land into smaller units can clearly be seen. (Please click on the image to enlarge it).

This is from an 1877 city atlas and shows the Hampton property in greater detail. Here you can see individual buildings and their arrangement on the Hampton Property. Atlases following the Civil War were published at varying levels of detail (regional, county, city) and can be used to research property accordingly. (Please click on the image to enlarge it).

This is a section of Towsontown as described by an 1893 Fire Insurance map. This map, although created by an insurance company in order to determine liablity rates, can now be used for a variety of historical purposes. Information such as the type of building material (indicated by color), height, number and placement of windows, and purpose of each building can be determined from this map. (Please click on the image to enlarge it).