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The High-Ways, By-Ways and Not-Ways Nantucket Island, Mass.
[N.p.,] 1945. Color lithograph, 16.375” x 31.25” plus margins. CONDITION: Good, recently reinforced on verso with Japanese tissue, facsimile reinstatement to loss at upper right corner affecting corner of printed border, fill to small loss in upper margin. A rare and charming tourist map of Nantucket Island designed for road travel and sightseeing, enriched with engaging snippets of local history. Equal parts decorative, functional, and informative, this charming map of Nantucket, Mass. once oriented vacationers making their way around the island on summer holidays. As indicated by the legend, roads are marked according to their suitability for travel by car (paved “highways”), bicycle (hard-pack “by-ways”) and foot (rutty “not-ways” and trails). The map covers almost the whole of the island, save its northern tip at Great Point. Also included are the locations of settlements, geographical features (points, beaches, necks, marshes, bogs, etc.) cemeteries, recreation venues, lighthouses, historical sites, Coast Guard stations, and other local landmarks. Several of these local sites—such as Hidden Forest (“no trespassing”), Chadwick’s Folly, and Harp of the Winds—are obscure, not typically appearing on maps, reflecting an intimate local knowledge of the area. Scale is provided in miles, and the map includes three timescales for converting distance to estimated travel time by car, bicycle, and foot, respectively. An inset of “The Town” in the upper left reveals the street network of the island’s eponymous settlement, Nantucket, in greater detail, including cemeteries (Catholic, Quaker, and Colored, in addition to the main Protestant burial grounds) and additional landmarks like the island’s oldest house, oldest tree, observatory, jail, state police, yacht club, and hospital (misspelled as “hopital”). A “notes” section in the lower left (with a spouting whale) elaborates on several local markers of historic interest, including the milestone markers along Siasconset Road (laid in 1824, locations indicated on the map), marble stones marking the boundary of the 1846 Great Fire, and a pair of enigmatic “meridian stones.” The latter of these were set on a north-south meridian, a block apart from each other in downtown, in 1840 by resident William Mitchell, father of pioneering female astronomer Maria Mitchell. Their intended purpose is poorly documented, but their use as a tool for calibrating compasses is considered a possibility. The notes section also includes climate data on weather, temperatures, and tides for the summer months. Robert Newton Mayall (1904–1989), credited in the lower right, was a civil engineer and amateur astronomer from Massachusetts who co-authored several books on astronomy and sundials with his wife, professional astronomer Margaret Walton Mayall. He is not known to have authored any other maps. This thoughtful piece reflects the Mayalls’ deep knowledge of Nantucket and their continuation of a robust and groundbreaking legacy of astronomy and observation on the island. An interesting map of Nantucket island in the 1940s. REFERENCES: Karttunen, Frances. “William Mitchell’s Meridian Stones,” Yesterday’s Island, Today’s Nantucket (Nantucket, Mass.), May 3–16, 2007; “Maria Mitchell Association Uncovers Rare Nantucket Maps” at Nantucket.net online.
Item #9834
Price: $1,250.00
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