Spent $80 on a reproduction of an 1855 map of my town and it paid off big time

I bought a reprint of the 1855 Walling Map of Worcester, Massachusetts for $80 at a local history fair. It showed old mill ponds and carriage roads that don't exist anymore. Helped me find a buried foundation line on my property that saved me from digging into an old well. Has anyone else used an old map to solve a modern problem like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

bell.emma24d ago

Eighty bucks for a map feels like a lot when you could just pull up old aerial photos for free online. I get that it worked out for you with the well thing, but most old maps aren't that accurate. The 1855 map of my town shows a "school" that was actually a barn, and the creek path is off by like 50 feet. Plus, those reproduction maps are usually fuzzy scans with blurry text. For the price of a nice dinner, I'd rather double-check with the historical society's free digital collection and use a metal detector. Just seems like a gamble that paid off for you but probably wouldn't for most people.

sanchez.sean24d ago

Oh man, did you luck out with that well find? I bought a reproduction 1874 map of my own town and it showed a whole row of outhouses that used to sit behind the old general store. I dug up three glass bottles and a clay pipe bowl in that spot, nothing valuable but still super cool to hold something someone used 140 years ago. The map was totally wrong about where the old creek used to run though, it was off by a good 30 feet on my property. Still worth every penny for the history alone.