Historic Images Archives 2003 Page #2
Edited by R.G. Brooks
This page is a collection of maps and graphic images
focusing on the Bolton Notch area of Connecticut, south of Vernon and
east of Manchester.
(Click images for sharper, larger versions.)
Edited by R.G. Brooks
Starting with an artistic rendering in French from the notes of Rochambeau's
expedition during the Revolutionary War. The header for the page is
shown here, describing Bolton as 14 miles from East Hartford
North is not marked on this map of this encampment around Bolton Notch.
However it is oriented essentially with east to the top of the map and
north to the left. The road to the right is toward Windham, and the
road to the bottom is marked as the way to East Hartford.
This journal shows location of Rochambeau's Army encampment near Bolton
on its return march from Yorktown, Virginia. Reproduced from the original
map in the Geography and Map Division,
Library of Congress.
The following image is clipped from a large map of the New England area,
composed of old map sheets pieced together in a "war room" style
map showing all the camps and routes for the French Forces led by Rochambeau.
This shows encampment #4 at Bolton, and the surrounding French names for
geographic features, local towns and points . This was sort of a planning
map used in 1781 to plan and execute the Washington Rochambeau Revolutionalry
Road.
Reference: Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division.
The following is a part of a well known atlas published around 1860.
Notice the railroad coming down
from Vernon. Then it follows east to Providence, and eventually leads
to Boston.
Reference: Atlas page, Towns of Andover and Bolton. Reproduced from the
Map and Geographic
Information Center, Homer Babbidge Library, University of Connecticut.
Scholars researched the early Indian tribes and reservations in the
state and constructed a map
of the state showing surprising trails and names, prior to most European
settlers. . This is a clip of central Connecticut where you can see the
trails constricted to go through the notch. The Podunk camp can be seen
on the banks of the "Cuinnentic" river about where East Hartford
is now.
The fascinating source map is titled "Map of the State of Connecticut
Showing Indian Trails, Villages & Sachemdoms" made for The Connecticut
Society of the Colonial Dames of America. c 1930 and is a depiction of
the india inhabitants in the 17th century prior to the arrival of Europeans.
Here is a recent digital USGS map that is interesting to put Bolton
in perspective. The notch was a sort of gateway in the old days, allowing
passage of first the indian paths and trails, then the early dirt roads
and then the rails and roads going east and west through the hills of
central Connecticut. Today it is widened to let routes 44, 6, and the
end of I384 squeeze through. The nearby ridges are roughly 100 feet higher
than the notch floor. Box Mountain to the north rises roughly 300 feet
higher, so this was a great way to go.
Click here for bigger view
of this map.. . . . . .. . . .Click
here for a wider area of this map..
