In 1904, the year this topographical map was drawn, my grandfather Minor, Donald Corbly Minor, was a two year toddler living on the family farm on Ceylon Lane, a tiny road leading out of Whitely, Greene Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania. Today it remains a tiny road, gravel and oiled to keep the dust down. I pass by the old farm house, and remember the trips we made out to these hills when I was just shoulder high to my mom. We walked through cow-nibbled grasses, hunted for old trash pits among the trees, dug up jars to be treasured back home. Topo maps are small snags of information that reflect the part of a community that changes least, its topography. Granddaddy’s hills and streams will remain when the farm’s foundations support vines instead of walls.
Thanks for the link to MyTopo! I’d not seen their Virginia maps.
VERY cool site. Also suggest you check out Historic Map Works, if you like maps. Personally I just can’t get enough maps.
😉