Manuscript plan of Worcester County, 30 March 1785

Manuscript plan of Worcester County, 30 March 1785

Maps, Manuscript --1785.

Massachusetts -- Maps, Manuscript.

Worcester County (Mass.)--Maps, Manuscript.

Rufus Putnam (1738-1824), a farmer, surveyor, and soldier, made this "New Plan of Several Towns in the County of Worcester," in 1785 when he lived in Rutland, Massachusetts. This is a remarkable overview map of many (but not all) towns within Worcester County, Massachusetts. Rufus Putnam's 1785 manuscript map of Worcester County represents one of the early attempts to create accurate maps of Massachusetts. In 1794, Massachusetts passed a law requiring towns to create measured surveys, but it was not until 1801--sixteen years after Putnam drew his map--that a published map based on those surveys became available. Putnam's manuscript map shows town lines, roads, ponds, rivers, meeting houses, mills, meadows, hills, and other places of interest for the following towns: Greenwich, Petersham, Barre, Hubbardston, Princeton, Holden, Paxton, Spencer, Sturbridge, Charlton, Brookfield, Western (now Warren), Brimfield, Ware, Hardwick, New Braintree, Oakham, and Rutland. The map also shows the Ware, Quaboag, Swift and Merrimack Rivers, as well as Quaboag and Wickaboag Pond. The lower right corner of the map also includes a lengthy description of towns.

Rufus Putnam (1738-1824)

Massachusetts Historical Society, www.masshist.org

30 March 1785

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