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Category: National Parks

Detail of printed map of Florida. The Everglades bear the label "Extensive inundated region covered with pine and hummock islands, of all sizes, and generally called The Ever Glades."

Swampland in Florida

Posted by: Amelia Raines

Recently I came across an interesting map of Florida in our collections. Dated 1823, the map was made only four years after the territory of Florida was ceded to the United States by Spain, and 22 years before it became a state in its own right. The map, authored by surveyor Charles Vignoles and engraved …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

More than a Metaphor: Maps of Mammoth Cave

Posted by: Julie Stoner

This is a guest post by Kelly Bilz, Librarian-in-Residence in the Geography and Map Division. Beneath the surface of west-central Kentucky winds a complex system of rivers and grottos known as Mammoth Cave. Named “mammoth” for its size, the cave doesn’t have much to do with the creature—although mammoths and mastodons did live in Kentucky near Big …

Hand drawn map on discolored paper

Map Helps Uncover Civil War Battlefield Tunnels at Petersburg, Virginia

Posted by: Ryan Moore

The Union ambitiously tunneled 511 feet to reach the Confederate lines during siege of Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864. Unique to this Civil War battle, they set off a massive explosion that created a 170-by-120-feet crater beneath the Confederate lines and stormed the defenses in a failed effort, known as the Battle of the Crater. Thereafter, the Confederates worried …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

New Exhibit Celebrates the National Park Service Centennial and the Organic Act

Posted by: Tim St. Onge

Today’s post is from Jacqueline Nolan, a Cartographer in the Geography and Map Division. Today officially marks 100 years of the National Park Service! National parks are a cherished resource of the American public, and serve as inspiration to many countries and communities worldwide. A new exhibit open today in the Geography and Map Division …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

Exploring the National Parks in the Geography and Map Division

Posted by: Tim St. Onge

As the National Park Service celebrates its centennial this month, there is no better time to highlight the Geography and Map Division’s special Digital Collection “Mapping the National Parks.” This curated collection includes nearly 200 maps, dating from the 17th century to the present, covering national parks and areas that in the future would become …