Titled “Old Pickens,” this US Geological Survey quadrangle presents the Lake Keowee country of northwestern South Carolina at the precise 1:24,000 scale for which USGS topographic maps are celebrated. Created from 1961 mapping and carrying a 1981 imprint, it stands at a fascinating intersection of landscape record and later publication, offering a disciplined scientific portrait of a region undergoing profound change. The map’s careful contouring, color hierarchy, and hydrographic detail bring forward the rolling terrain of Pickens and Oconee Counties, where ridges, coves, streams, and roads knit together the foothills below the Blue Ridge. Its title evokes the older settlement geography of Pickens, while the mapped landscape reveals a broader regional story shaped by water, elevation, and development.

The US Geological Survey’s hand is evident in the map’s clarity, restraint, and authority. Founded in 1879, the USGS became the nation’s principal cartographic and earth-science agency, producing maps that were both practical tools and enduring records of American landscapes. Here, its topographic language is especially expressive: brown contour lines model the hills with almost sculptural precision, blue watercourses define the drainage system, and green woodland tints suggest the density of vegetation across the uplands and valleys. Rather than decorative flourish, the beauty of the map comes from disciplined observation. Every road, creek, elevation, and settlement is integrated into a coherent visual system, allowing the viewer to read the land as surveyors, engineers, hikers, planners, and residents would have understood it.

Lake Keowee dominates the mapped region, bringing a striking presence to a landscape otherwise defined by older river valleys and rural uplands. The reservoir lies along the former course of the Keowee River, whose waters form part of the greater Savannah River watershed. Its intricate shoreline, coves, and branching arms contrast dramatically with the regular precision of contour lines rising away from the water. The lake is now associated with recreation, scenic homes, boating, and the modern transformation of the South Carolina foothills, yet the map’s underlying topography reveals the terrain that made such a reservoir possible: narrow valleys, sloping ridges, and a web of tributary streams feeding downward through the Piedmont edge. It is a landscape of both natural form and engineered change.

The town of Pickens anchors the map in human geography, connecting the surrounding countryside through a network of roads, trails, and small developed areas. Around it, the quadrangle records the practical details of mid-twentieth-century life: route alignments, scattered residences, cultivated clearings, wooded tracts, churches, bridges, and stream crossings. The nearby Saluda River system and numerous creeks and branches reveal how water organized travel, settlement, agriculture, and local industry long before the reservoir era. The topographic character is notably varied, with elevation shifts that create a sense of intimate complexity rather than broad, open plain. Hills rise and fall in close succession, and the contours guide the eye through hollows, slopes, and ridgelines that define the everyday geography of the region.

As a historical document, “Old Pickens” is especially compelling because it captures a place poised between inherited rural patterns and the later pressures of population growth, recreational development, and changing land use around Lake Keowee. The 1961 survey foundation preserves evidence of older roads, settlement distributions, drainage courses, and landforms, while the 1981 imprint situates the map within a period when the lake region had already begun to assume a new identity. For collectors, historians, and admirers of South Carolina landscapes, the map offers more than orientation; it is a layered record of transformation. Its contours and place names illuminate the enduring physical terrain, while its roads and waters trace the evolving relationship between communities, natural resources, and the scenic foothills they inhabit.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Lake Keowee
• Pickens
• Oconee County
• Keowee River
• Saluda River
• Landforms and elevations indicated by contour lines
• Roads and trails throughout the mapped area
• Forested regions
• Streams and creeks
• Residential and developed areas around Lake Keowee

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Lake Keowee in South Carolina and the surrounding area.
• Dated 1961 with a 1981 imprint.
• The map uses vibrant colors to depict topographical features, including elevations and landforms.
• Contour lines indicate changes in terrain and show the area’s hills, water bodies, and dense vegetation.
• Provides insight into geographical and developmental changes in the Lake Keowee area over time, especially population growth and land use changes.

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 16x20in (40x50cm) 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.