DESCRIPTION: An 1879 real estate development plan of Stone & Downers' Sea Shore Lots at Wild Harbor, North Falmouth, Massachusetts. The map presents a proposed seaside subdivision on Buzzards Bay, documenting the promotion of Cape Cod waterfront land for residential development during the late nineteenth century.
The main plan divides the coastal tract into more than one hundred numbered parcels arranged along curving avenues. Waterfront lots follow the irregular shoreline, while additional lots extend inland around a large undivided central space. Hachures delineate the coastal banks, and beaches, a creek, and the sheltered waters of Wild Harbor establish the property's natural setting. A projecting point at the harbor entrance is encircled by a loop road.
An inset locates the development in relation to North Falmouth, surrounding roads, ponds, and the railroad, emphasizing access as well as the coastal location. A decorative line border surrounds the sheet. Printed in Boston by the Heliotype Printing Company, whose imprint appears beneath the lower-left border. A detailed record of an early subdivision scheme on the Buzzards Bay shore. The engineering survey was drawn by Charles D. Elliot, Somerville, Massachusetts.
The heliotype method of printing is a photographic printing process that was developed in the mid-19th century. The heliotype process involved creating a photographic negative, which was then placed on a specially treated metal or glass plate coated with a light-sensitive emulsion. The plate was exposed to light, and the emulsion hardened in proportion to the amount of light it received. The plate was then washed in a solvent, which removed the unhardened emulsion, leaving behind a durable and detailed plate capable of producing high-quality prints with sharp details and wide tonal variation.
Charles Darwin Elliot (1837-1908) was a Massachusetts civil engineer, surveyor, and historian closely associated with Somerville. Born in Foxborough, he graduated from Somerville High School in 1855 and served as an assistant topographical engineer with the Union Army's Department of the Gulf during the Civil War. He opened a surveying office in Somerville's Union Square in 1870 and became the city's first city engineer in 1872. His work included property surveys, railroad and waterworks projects, proposed Cape Cod Canal plans, and surveys for the Middlesex Fells Reservation. Elliot also wrote Somerville's History [2] and helped found the Somerville Historical Society in 1897.
[2] Elliot, Charles D. "Somerville's History" in "Illustrated Souvenir of the City of Somerville". Edward Samuels and Henry Kimball. 1896.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1879
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States
BODY OF WATER: Buzzards Bay
CONDITION: Excellent.
Rolled. Clean.
COLORING: N/A
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 34
" x
24 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 150
PRICE: $600
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