More On The View

Massachusetts:
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Franklin Co. 1858
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Early Maps-Greenfield
Greenfield Bird's-Eye
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Montague 1910

Bird's Eye View of Greenfield, MA 1877
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More on the Bird's Eye View

This remarkable document , which appears to be a hybrid map-photograph, is in fact an artist-created rendering of what a photographer might see from the air. Called a "bird’s eye view" this map was a commercial product made by skilled mapmakers whose special talent included the ability to draw immensely detailed views like this without benefit of a photograph or a nearby mountain (if none were available). In this case we have Rocky Mountain, and the author would certainly have availed himself of the view from the top, but he did not have to. Maps like these were produced for many cities without nearby prominences.

Note the careful detail – down to doors and windows – of the hundreds of houses shown here. On this view we see the new location of the Troy & Greenfield Railroad and the new Union Passenger station which served both railroads. Note that Miles Street does not exist yet. The careful reader will note the old Petty Plain railroad route on the left side (a faint trace arcing to the left). The undeveloped street extending north from Pleasant Street is Davis Street. The village of Greenfield is growing rapidly at this time.