Old Map of Belfast, Maine by USGS, 1917 – Penobscot Bay, Searsport & Islesboro

Published in 1917, the US Geological Survey’s “Belfast” presents the Maine coast and its inland hinterland with the sober elegance of early twentieth-century scientific cartography. Drawn at a scale of 1:62,500, the map centers on Belfast, a harbor town on Penobscot Bay, while extending across a landscape of villages, wooded uplands, lakes, coves, roads, and working waterways. Its title is pleasingly direct, yet the world it contains is richly layered: Belfast appears not merely as a town, but as the focal point of a broader coastal geography shaped by maritime trade, rural settlement, and rugged terrain. The map captures a moment when Maine’s communities were connected by local roads, shoreline landings, mills, farms, and small village centers, all carefully fixed within the disciplined visual language of the USGS.

The US Geological Survey brought to this map the precision and clarity that made its topographic series indispensable to engineers, planners, travelers, and scholars. By 1917, the USGS had refined a cartographic vocabulary that balanced scientific accuracy with visual legibility: contour lines model the land, blue waterways trace hydrological systems, and place names establish the social geography of towns, hills, lakes, and coastal points. This was mapping as national infrastructure, part of a broader federal effort to document the United States systematically and consistently. In the Belfast sheet, that mission is expressed through a finely observed portrait of mid-coast Maine, where settlement patterns, natural features, and elevation data are integrated into a single authoritative image of the region.

Belfast itself occupies a commanding position on the western side of Penobscot Bay, a setting that has long shaped its identity as a maritime and commercial center. Nearby Searsport and Mack Point underscore the area’s connection to shipping, timber, fishing, and coastal exchange, while Northport, Lincolnville, and Lincolnville Beach reveal the string of settlements that developed along the bay’s indented shoreline. Islesboro, lying offshore in Penobscot Bay, adds another layer of geographic interest, emphasizing the sheltered yet intricate character of Maine’s island-studded coast. The map records these communities before the full transformation of the automobile age, when harbors, rail connections, local roads, and village centers still defined the practical rhythms of travel and commerce.

Inland from the coast, the sheet opens into the textured uplands and waterways characteristic of Waldo County and neighboring areas. Swanville, Belmont, Waldo, Searsmont, and Morristown appear amid a terrain of hills, brooks, ponds, and forested ground, with names such as Bear Hill, Morgan Hill, Kellogg Mountain, Craig Brook, Little River, Great Pond, Knickerbocker Lake, and Lake Megunticook giving the landscape a vivid local specificity. The contour lines are especially evocative here, rising and tightening around uplands, relaxing across valleys, and revealing how roads and settlements adapted to the physical structure of the land. This is a topography of practical beauty: agricultural clearings, wooded ridges, drainage basins, and lake country rendered with quiet exactitude.

As a historical document, the “Belfast” map offers a compelling view of Maine in the early twentieth century, before many later changes to roads, shoreline development, land use, and community boundaries. Its classic topographical style allows the viewer to read both nature and history at once: the enduring forms of hills, lakes, and bays alongside the more fragile evidence of human occupation. The color coding and contour work transform the region into an intelligible landscape, one in which elevation, water, settlement, and movement are all meaningfully related. For collectors drawn to coastal New England, USGS cartography, or the layered history of Maine, this map is a refined and information-rich portrait of Belfast and its surrounding country at a particularly evocative moment in time.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Belfast
• Swanville
• Northport
• Belmont
• Searsport
• Morristown
• Waldo
• Lincolnville
• Mack Point
• Morgan Hill
• Bear Hill
• Searsmont
• Mattawamkeag River
• Knickerbocker Lake
• Little River
• Lincolnville Beach
• Penobscot Bay
• Islesboro
• Kellogg Mountain
• Craig Brook
• Great Pond
• Lake Megunticook
• Pemaquid Lake
• Various unnamed woods, other water bodies, and local roads

Historical context & cartographic details

• Historical topographical map of Belfast, Maine, and its surroundings.
• Produced by the US Geological Survey.
• Created in 1917.
• Scale of 1:62,500.
• The US Geological Survey is known for its detailed, systematic mapping based on survey data.
• Features a classic topographical style with intricate contour lines and elevation details.
• Uses color coding to differentiate land, water features, and elevation levels.
• Shows rugged Maine terrain, including hills, valleys, lakes, and wooded areas.
• Serves as a record of the early 20th-century geography of Belfast and the surrounding area.
• Offers insight into USGS cartographic methods of the period, especially accuracy and detail.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.