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Original land grants for much of
northwestern Vermont are recorded in a small booklet of
maps prepared by Samuel C. Crafts of Craftsbury in about
1800. The “Crafts Plans”, as they are known to surveyors
and other scholars of Vermont’s history, are a
meticulously drawn set of maps of 48 towns, bound in a
small booklet which is now, 2007, carefully preserved by
the Vermont Historical Society. Each of the maps in this
collection shows a complete town divided into its lots.
The importance of the Crafts Plans
has been known to historians for some time. These maps
were carefully copied in the early 20th
century by surveyor Franklin H. Dewart of Burlington.
Dewart’s copies are re-drawn renderings, as copiers did
not exist in his time. His copies are more legible than
the originals in most cases.
The Dewart copies
exist as photostats at the Vermont Archives. The
Archives photostats are available by clicking on the
link below. You will see a list of computer filenames,
each with a town (or a district) within it. The images
have been converted from photostats (which are white on
black background) to a positive format, and have been
reduced in size/quality to allow for quick web access. |
