Rare Old Map of Kittery, Maine by USGS, 1944: Portsmouth Harbor, Gerrish Island & Fort McClary
Restored in our London workshop from the original 1949 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in the USA
Restored from the original 1949 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Gift message & custom finish
If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
Every order is custom made, so if you need the size adjusted slightly, or printed on an unusual material, just let us know. We've done thousands of custom orders over the years, so there's (almost) nothing we can't manage.
You can also contact us before you order, if you prefer!
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“Kittery” is a finely detailed United States Geological Survey topographical map of the Maine–New Hampshire seacoast, surveyed in 1944 and published with...
Continue reading“Kittery” is a finely detailed United States Geological Survey topographical map of the Maine–New Hampshire seacoast, surveyed in 1944 and published with a 1949 imprint. At the practical 1:24,000 scale, it captures the Kittery region with the precision and restraint characteristic of mid-twentieth-century USGS cartography: contour lines describe the low coastal relief, blue water delineates harbors and tidal channels, and green tints articulate the wooded and elevated terrain. The result is both an official geographic record and an evocative portrait of a maritime borderland. Kittery appears not as an isolated town, but as part of a dense coastal system of islands, naval facilities, beaches, inlets, roads, and settlements clustered around the mouth of the Piscataqua River.
The map’s most compelling geography centers on Portsmouth Harbor, where Maine and New Hampshire meet across a historically strategic tidal passage. Kittery lies on the Maine side, facing Portsmouth, with Seavey Island occupying a prominent position in the river—an especially significant landmark because of its long association with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The surrounding channels, coves, and points reveal why this coast mattered for navigation, shipbuilding, defense, and commerce. Admiralty Village, Patts Island, Little Harbor, and Newcastle add layers of settlement and maritime infrastructure, while the Atlantic Ocean opens to the east. The USGS treatment makes these relationships legible at a glance, translating a complex shoreline into a disciplined composition of names, symbols, elevations, and hydrographic forms.
Gerrish Island and the southern Maine coast give the map much of its visual and historical character. The island’s roads, coastal contours, and relationship to Fort McClary evoke centuries of military and maritime vigilance at the harbor entrance. Fort McClary, guarding the approaches to the Piscataqua, connects this landscape to the long arc of American coastal defense, from colonial tensions through the age of modern naval power. Nearby landmarks such as Pulpit Rock, York Point, Point of Rocks, and York Harbor trace a rugged shoreline shaped by bedrock promontories, tidal waters, and sheltered anchorages. The map presents these places with understated elegance, allowing the topography itself—its headlands, beaches, islands, and narrow waterways—to convey the drama of the coast.
Across the lower and eastern portions of the sheet, the resort and residential landscapes of Wallis Sands, Rye Beach, York Harbor, and adjacent shore communities speak to another chapter in the region’s history. By the 1940s, this coast was already a destination as well as a working maritime zone, balancing naval installations, fishing traditions, summer recreation, and expanding automobile access. Roads thread between beaches and inland rises, while contour lines show how subtly the land lifts from tidal flats and shorefronts into low hills. The map preserves a moment before later suburban growth and environmental change altered the texture of the seacoast, making it especially valuable as a record of wartime-era settlement patterns and coastal land use.
As a USGS production, “Kittery” embodies the survey’s commitment to accuracy, clarity, and national geographic documentation. The cartographic style is spare but deeply informative: elevations are modeled through regular contours, waterways are crisply separated from land, and place names are arranged to balance readability with dense local detail. Unlike decorative earlier maps, its beauty lies in its measured exactness—an elegant scientific language designed for navigation, planning, engineering, and public knowledge. Yet the sheet also rewards historical imagination. It captures Kittery and Portsmouth Harbor at a pivotal mid-century moment, with old forts, naval islands, coastal villages, beaches, and Atlantic approaches all held together in a single, authoritative view of one of New England’s most storied maritime corridors.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Kittery
- Portsmouth
- Admiralty Village
- Gerrish Island
- Seavey Island
- Newcastle
- Pulpit Rock
- Fort McClary
- Patts Island
- Little Harbor
- Wallis Sands
- Rye Beach
- York Point
- Point of Rocks
- York Harbor
- Atlantic Ocean
Historical context & cartographic details
- Produced by the US Geological Survey as a historical 1:24,000 topographical map of the Maine and New Hampshire seacoast.
- Dated 1944 and published with a 1949 imprint.
- Created in the clear, organized USGS style typical of the period.
- Features color-coded elevations and distinctly marked water bodies.
- Uses shades of green to represent elevation changes.
- Shows coastal features, islands, inland hills, and contour lines indicating varied topography.
- Reflects the landscape and human habitation of the area as it appeared in the mid-1940s.
- Provides historical insight into the region before later urbanization, suburban growth, and environmental change.
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 18x24in (45x60cm) 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.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
“Kittery” is a finely detailed United States Geological Survey topographical map of the Maine–New Hampshire seacoast, surveyed in 1944 and published with a 1949 imprint. At the practical 1:24,000 scale, it captures the Kittery region with the precision and restraint characteristic of mid-twentieth-century USGS cartography: contour lines describe the low coastal relief, blue water delineates harbors and tidal channels, and green tints articulate the wooded and elevated terrain. The result is both an official geographic record and an evocative portrait of a maritime borderland. Kittery appears not as an isolated town, but as part of a dense coastal system of islands, naval facilities, beaches, inlets, roads, and settlements clustered around the mouth of the Piscataqua River.
The map’s most compelling geography centers on Portsmouth Harbor, where Maine and New Hampshire meet across a historically strategic tidal passage. Kittery lies on the Maine side, facing Portsmouth, with Seavey Island occupying a prominent position in the river—an especially significant landmark because of its long association with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The surrounding channels, coves, and points reveal why this coast mattered for navigation, shipbuilding, defense, and commerce. Admiralty Village, Patts Island, Little Harbor, and Newcastle add layers of settlement and maritime infrastructure, while the Atlantic Ocean opens to the east. The USGS treatment makes these relationships legible at a glance, translating a complex shoreline into a disciplined composition of names, symbols, elevations, and hydrographic forms.
Gerrish Island and the southern Maine coast give the map much of its visual and historical character. The island’s roads, coastal contours, and relationship to Fort McClary evoke centuries of military and maritime vigilance at the harbor entrance. Fort McClary, guarding the approaches to the Piscataqua, connects this landscape to the long arc of American coastal defense, from colonial tensions through the age of modern naval power. Nearby landmarks such as Pulpit Rock, York Point, Point of Rocks, and York Harbor trace a rugged shoreline shaped by bedrock promontories, tidal waters, and sheltered anchorages. The map presents these places with understated elegance, allowing the topography itself—its headlands, beaches, islands, and narrow waterways—to convey the drama of the coast.
Across the lower and eastern portions of the sheet, the resort and residential landscapes of Wallis Sands, Rye Beach, York Harbor, and adjacent shore communities speak to another chapter in the region’s history. By the 1940s, this coast was already a destination as well as a working maritime zone, balancing naval installations, fishing traditions, summer recreation, and expanding automobile access. Roads thread between beaches and inland rises, while contour lines show how subtly the land lifts from tidal flats and shorefronts into low hills. The map preserves a moment before later suburban growth and environmental change altered the texture of the seacoast, making it especially valuable as a record of wartime-era settlement patterns and coastal land use.
As a USGS production, “Kittery” embodies the survey’s commitment to accuracy, clarity, and national geographic documentation. The cartographic style is spare but deeply informative: elevations are modeled through regular contours, waterways are crisply separated from land, and place names are arranged to balance readability with dense local detail. Unlike decorative earlier maps, its beauty lies in its measured exactness—an elegant scientific language designed for navigation, planning, engineering, and public knowledge. Yet the sheet also rewards historical imagination. It captures Kittery and Portsmouth Harbor at a pivotal mid-century moment, with old forts, naval islands, coastal villages, beaches, and Atlantic approaches all held together in a single, authoritative view of one of New England’s most storied maritime corridors.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Kittery
- Portsmouth
- Admiralty Village
- Gerrish Island
- Seavey Island
- Newcastle
- Pulpit Rock
- Fort McClary
- Patts Island
- Little Harbor
- Wallis Sands
- Rye Beach
- York Point
- Point of Rocks
- York Harbor
- Atlantic Ocean
Historical context & cartographic details
- Produced by the US Geological Survey as a historical 1:24,000 topographical map of the Maine and New Hampshire seacoast.
- Dated 1944 and published with a 1949 imprint.
- Created in the clear, organized USGS style typical of the period.
- Features color-coded elevations and distinctly marked water bodies.
- Uses shades of green to represent elevation changes.
- Shows coastal features, islands, inland hills, and contour lines indicating varied topography.
- Reflects the landscape and human habitation of the area as it appeared in the mid-1940s.
- Provides historical insight into the region before later urbanization, suburban growth, and environmental change.
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 18x24in (45x60cm) 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.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
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