Rail Lines, Steamer Routes, and the Summer Resort Network of New England’s Most Fashionable Lake.
Map of Lake Winnipesaukee and Vicinity.
$350
1 in stock
Description
This is a c. 1905 Rand Avery Map of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire and vicinity, published for the Boston and Maine Railroad. At this time, Lake Winnipesaukee emerged as the most popular destination in the New Hampshire Lakes Region for elite East Coast “rusticators” seeking a refuge from the summertime heat and smells of the city.
The Map in Detail
The map covers the whole of Winnipesaukee and its neighbors, including Squam Lake at top. The lake is shaded with fine contour-like lines, and the dozens of islands in the region are labeled by name. Surrounding towns, mountains, waterways, boat landings, post offices, and some of the larger resort hotels are indicated. Dashed lines across the water show steamer routes, while roads on land are traced. But the main focus of the map is the rail network of the Boston and Maine, traced in bold black lines, that linked to both the east and west shores of the lake.
Historical Context
By 1900, Winnipesaukee was one of New England’s leading summer destinations, and the map shows how the railroad and steamer services worked as a single system. The dashed lines follow the route of the Mount Washington, a steamer operated by the Boston and Maine to carry passengers, goods, and mail around the lake. Dealer commentary describes the map as reflecting the seamless integration of rail and steamer service that the B&M had perfected by that point, bringing visitors from Boston, New York, and other cities straight to their hotels and resorts around the lake. The railroad’s hold on the region was relatively recent. The Boston and Lowell, which ran along the west side of the lake, was leased by the B&M beginning in 1887. This arrangement remained dominant until the automobile began to erode rail and steamer travel in the 1920s.
Publication History and Census
The map was produced by Rand, Avery Supply Co. for the Boston and Maine Railroad. It was used by the railroad for promotional publications for several years at the end of the 19th and early 20th century, though the present example appeared in a c. 1905 publication by the New Hampshire State Bureau of Labor, titled New Hampshire as a Summer Resort. The OCLC records three examples of the map with various suggested dates between 1891 and 1918, while the booklet New Hampshire as a Summer Resort is also held by three institutions.
Cartographer(s):
Formed through the consolidation of dozens of smaller New England lines across the middle decades of the nineteenth century, the Boston and Maine Railroad had, by 1900, become the dominant carrier in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. Its crucial expansion into the Lakes Region came in 1887, when it leased the Boston and Lowell Railroad, gaining access to the western shore of Lake Winnipesaukee and completing a network that allowed through service from Boston and New York directly into the heart of the resort district.
The B&M also operated a steamer service, anchored by the Mount Washington, which carried passengers, mail, and freight around Winnipesaukee’s island-dotted waters, creating a seamless rail-and-steam travel system that made the Lakes Region easily accessible to the leisure class of the Eastern Seaboard. To promote this network, the railroad commissioned maps, guidebooks, and illustrated pamphlets, often in collaboration with state agencies and resort operators, positioning Winnipesaukee as the Saratoga of New England. That system would remain dominant until the automobile, in the 1920s, began to offer the independence that even the most comfortable Pullman car could not.
Rand, Avery & Company was a Boston printing and engraving firm active in the latter half of the nineteenth century, best known for high-quality commercial printing for the region’s publishers, institutions, and railroads. Operating from Boston at a moment when that city was the hub of New England’s printing trade, Rand Avery produced books, illustrated periodicals, and promotional materials for a wide range of clients, including the major New England rail lines that were then aggressively marketing their tourist routes.
The firm reorganized as the Rand, Avery Supply Company in its later years, continuing to serve corporate and institutional clients through the early twentieth century. Though less celebrated than map publishers operating out of New York or Philadelphia, Rand Avery occupied a significant position in Boston’s commercial printing world, and their railroad promotional work.
Condition Description
Excellent. Printed on thin paper.
References
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