Published in 1984 using cartographic information dated 1953, the “Havre De Grace Quadrangle” presents a richly detailed US Geological Survey portrait of northeastern Maryland at the nationally important 1:24,000 scale. Centered on Havre de Grace, the map captures the city’s distinctive position where the Susquehanna River widens into the head of the Chesapeake Bay, a setting that has shaped its commerce, defenses, transportation, and identity for centuries. Streets, waterfront edges, creeks, elevation contours, and surrounding rural land are rendered with the precision expected of a mid-century USGS quadrangle. As both a technical document and a historical image, it preserves the geography of a community poised between river town, bay port, industrial corridor, and expanding postwar landscape.

The mapmaker, the United States Geological Survey, was established in 1879 to classify public lands and investigate the geology, water, minerals, and physical structure of the nation. By the twentieth century, its topographic quadrangles had become the definitive visual language of American terrain, used by engineers, planners, scientists, soldiers, hikers, and local governments alike. This Havre de Grace sheet belongs to that distinguished tradition: systematic, understated, and exacting. Its 1:24,000 scale allows individual roads, streams, buildings, rail lines, and landforms to be understood in relation to one another, making it especially valuable for reading the interplay between settlement and environment. The result is a map that feels both authoritative and intimate, translating a specific Maryland landscape into a finely organized cartographic record.

The design is classic USGS topography, where information is layered with elegant restraint. Contour lines trace the changing elevations around Havre de Grace, revealing the rise from the low waterfront and creek valleys into the surrounding uplands. Water features appear in clear, vibrant blue, giving visual emphasis to the Susquehanna River, Chesapeake Bay, Grace Creek, and nearby drainage channels. Relief coloring and contour intervals help make the shape of the land immediately legible, while the gridded neatline and precise symbology provide scientific order. Roads, urban blocks, open ground, industrial zones, and public or institutional sites are differentiated through a carefully codified palette. This balance of beauty and utility is what makes historic USGS quadrangles so enduringly admired.

Havre de Grace itself gives the map unusual historical resonance. The city’s name, bestowed by the Marquis de Lafayette for its resemblance to Le Havre in France, evokes its long relationship with maritime trade and transatlantic memory. Its location at the Susquehanna’s mouth made it a strategic point for shipping, ferries, canals, bridges, and military movement; the town was famously attacked by British forces during the War of 1812. By the 1950s landscape recorded here, that older waterfront heritage coexisted with modern streets, transport corridors, and industrial development. The surrounding riverbanks, creeks, and bay margins speak to a place continually shaped by tides, commerce, erosion, infrastructure, and the demands of a growing mid-Atlantic region.

As a historical document, the “Havre De Grace Quadrangle” is especially compelling for what it can reveal about change. The mid-century arrangement of streets, industrial areas, open land, possible military or restricted sites, parks, and waterfront infrastructure offers a baseline against which later development can be measured. Contour lines and drainage patterns preserve the underlying natural framework, while the mapped urban fabric records how people adapted to it. In and around Havre de Grace, the relationship between land and water is never incidental: it governs routes, settlement patterns, economic activity, and environmental vulnerability. This map therefore offers more than geographic orientation; it is a concise, beautifully ordered record of a Chesapeake community at a particular moment in modern American history.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Havre de Grace, Maryland
• Susquehanna River
• Chesapeake Bay
• Grace Creek
• Various streets and infrastructure in urban Havre de Grace
• Industrial areas and possible military sites
• Natural features and nearby parks

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
• Historical topographical map at a scale of 1:24,000
• Dated 1953 and published in 1984
• Shows Havre de Grace and surrounding areas in northeastern Maryland
• USGS was established in 1879 and is known for geological, hydrological, and topographical surveys across the United States
• Havre de Grace is historically significant for its strategic location at the meeting point of major waterways
• The map may reflect changes in urban development, land use, and geographic characteristics since the 1950s
• Features color-coded relief shading and contour lines to show elevation and topography
• Water features are shown in vibrant blue for clarity
• Illustrates a mix of urban and natural landscapes
• Serves as a historical document for studying urban planning and environmental change in and around Havre de Grace

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.