Published in 1973 from an original 1952 survey, the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Ship Bottom” presents Long Beach Island and its surrounding waters at the precise 1:24,000 scale that made mid-century USGS quadrangles indispensable to planners, engineers, naturalists, and travelers. Centered on the barrier-island community of Ship Bottom, the map captures a stretch of the New Jersey shore where the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and a web of inlets and tidal waters define the landscape. Its title is elegantly direct, naming the resort town that served as both a geographic anchor and a gateway to Long Beach Island’s beaches. The result is a richly informative coastal portrait, balancing scientific measurement with the visual clarity characteristic of the Survey’s finest topographical work.

The U.S. Geological Survey brought to this map the institutional authority of an agency founded to classify, measure, and understand the American landscape. By the time this quadrangle was published, USGS mapping had become a national standard for representing terrain, waterways, roads, and settlement with disciplined consistency. “Ship Bottom” reflects that tradition through crisp linework, carefully placed lettering, elevation contours, and a restrained but effective palette distinguishing land, water, and built features. The map’s water areas are rendered with particular elegance, allowing bays, channels, marsh edges, and the Atlantic shoreline to read with both aesthetic softness and technical precision. It is a map designed not merely to be viewed, but to be interpreted.

Long Beach Island’s geography is the central drama of the sheet: a slender ribbon of sand and settlement poised between open ocean and sheltered bay. The Atlantic coastline forms a clean eastern edge, while the inland side opens into the more intricate waters of Barnegat Bay and Little Egg Harbor. This contrast between linear shore and complex estuarine environment is one of the map’s great visual pleasures. Hydrographic detail records the coastal world of shallows, tidal margins, and navigable water, while contouring conveys the island’s low, fragile topography. Such information reveals the environmental character of a barrier island shaped by waves, wind, storms, and human occupation—an ever-changing threshold between sea and land.

The communities shown—Ship Bottom, Surf City, and the broader Long Beach area—speak to the island’s emergence as a cherished summer destination. By the mid-twentieth century, Long Beach Island was no longer only a remote coastal landscape; it was becoming increasingly defined by roads, vacation homes, beach access, and seasonal recreation. The road network, highlighted in pink in the familiar USGS style, traces the growing framework of mobility that connected island towns to one another and to the mainland. These lines of access are historically revealing, marking the infrastructure that supported tourism, development, and the transformation of coastal New Jersey into a modern resort landscape while retaining the narrow, maritime character of the island.

As a historical document, “Ship Bottom” offers a valuable baseline for understanding decades of change along the New Jersey coast. The 1952 survey captures Long Beach Island at a pivotal moment before later waves of densification, shoreline alteration, and environmental management reshaped many barrier-island communities. Today, the map invites comparison with contemporary patterns of land use, population growth, road expansion, and coastal vulnerability. Its careful depiction of bays, inlets, beaches, contours, and settlements makes it especially compelling for anyone interested in coastal history, environmental change, or the evolution of American seaside leisure. More than a topographical record, it is a refined mid-century portrait of a beloved shore landscape at a defining stage in its development.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Long Beach Island
• Ship Bottom
• Barnegat Bay
• Little Egg Harbor
• Surf City
• Long Beach area
• Coastline of the Atlantic Ocean
• Nearby bays and inlets
• Road network marked in pink
• Elevation contours

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the U.S. Geological Survey as a historical 1:24,000 topographical map of coastal New Jersey.
• Original survey conducted in 1952; published with a 1973 imprint.
• Shows a period of development and urbanization on Long Beach Island.
• Useful as a comparative baseline for changes in land use and population density over time.
• Employs clear land and water delineation typical of USGS topographical maps from this era.
• Includes hydrographic features, land use patterns, and coastal topography.
• Long Beach Island is noted as a popular summer vacation destination known for beaches and recreation.

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.