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Old Colony Line to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Boston: Old Colony Line, October 12, 1891. Geo. H. Ellis, Printer, 141 Franklin St. Lithographic broadside with map, 25.75” x 15.5” plus margins, map 9.5” x 11.175”. CONDITION: Good, old folds, 3” x .5” loss to lower margin, document repair tape repair on verso to separation half way across sheet along fold.

A late nineteenth-century broadside advertising the Old Colony Line as a means of traveling to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, incorporating a map showing Old Colony’s rail network in eastern Massachusetts and its connections to steamboat lines. 

Chartered in 1844, the Old Colony Railroad transformed the inland transportation system in eastern Massachusetts—formerly consisting solely of rough roads—ultimately linking Boston and towns to the northwest to Newport, New Bedford and Cape Cod as far as Provincetown. In the later nineteenth century, the company began promoting the Old Colony Line, a portion of the broader network, to transport tourists to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

The map incorporated here presents the entire Old Colony railroad system in bold black lines, showing its connections with the ports of Fall River, Newport, New Bedford, Fairhaven, and Woods Hole and the steamboat routes from those places to Cottage City on Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket Harbor, and along the coast (the Fall River Line). Also shown are a rail line on Martha’s Vineyard from Cottage City to Katama, and a line on Nantucket from the harbor to Siaconset. Time tables “To Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket” and “From Nantucket to Martha’s Vineyard” appear below the map. A caveat appears to the right of the map advising that arrival and departure times are not guaranteed.

An attractive broadside evoking a period of rising tourism on the Vineyard and Nantucket and reflecting the crucial role played by the Old Colony Railroad.

Item #9872

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