1774 - Roads and Houses

This 1774 map was drawn just before the Revolutionary War.

As a result of the high standards set by Major Samuel Holland, the Surveyor-General of this area of North America, the colonial government made detailed surveys of New Hampshire. The “Holland” map had especially good detail on the Provincial boundary, so we can probably assume that Chesterfield is well depicted here.

The map was not actually printed until 1784, after the war, but it is generally accepted that the information is circa 1774. This is the first map found to show roads and the names of any landowners. The north-south road is today’s Route 63.

It is assumed that the roads shown are the principal roads at the time, though there were other roads. Beside the Charter, this may be one of the earliest map which shows Lake Spafford (Lake Spofford).



Below are printable copies of this page.