Title: Map of the State of the of Maryland, Laid down from an actual Survey of all the Principal Waters, Public Roads, and Divisions of the Counties therein;  describing  the Situation of the Cities, Towns, Villages,  Houses of Worship and other Public Buildings, Furnaces, Forges, Mills, and other remarkable Places; and of the Federal Territor; as also a Sketch of the State of Delaware; shewing the probable Connexion of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

By: Dennis Griffith, Second Edition

Published: May 28th 1813 by J. Melish Map & Print Seller,  No. 269 Chestnut Street, Philada.

Scale: Bar scale indicates 40 miles.

Engraver: J[ames] Thackara and J[ohn] Vallance.

Dimensions: Image 75 x 131 cm. Engraving. Hand colored.

Inset: Plan of the City of Washington and Territory of Columbia.

Scale: Bar scale indicates 6 miles.

Dimensions: 40.5 x 40.5 cm.

Map of the State of Maryland, 1813

The Revolutionary War deprived the United States of British cartographic know-how, creating a void that could not be left unfilled for long. Reliable maps were vital for the military, who initiated the systematic mapping of America by appointing their own geographers.

After the peace treaty was signed in 1783, Congress and private citizens took over the army's initiative. Particularly urgent was the mapping of the individual states, essential according to Ristow, "for internal administration, to negotiate boundary claims with neighboring states, and for planning and carrying out internal improvements" (Ristow, p.6).

The "Map of the State of Maryland" was privately produced. Not much is known about its originators or its makers, except that they were all Philadelphians. The first edition of the map is dated June 20th, 1794, and was published June 6th, 1795, making it one of the earliest state maps published in the United States. The second edition, identical to the first except for the imprint area, was published May 28th, 1813.

This was the first map to deal primarily with Maryland since the publication of the Augustine Herrman map in 1673 (no.6). A dramatic transformation of Maryland during the past century is strikingly apparent when one compares the Griffith map with the 1673 map and also with the Fry & Jefferson map published in 1753/54 (no.9). While the earlier maps still emphasized the coastal area and its connections with Europe, the Griffith map shows a "mature" Maryland with roads, mills, forges and furnaces for which the relationship toward other states and the hinterland was equally, if not more important. With the Dennis Griffith map, the modern art of mapmaking arrived in Maryland; subsequent cartography would correct slight errors, subtly refine the description of the state's natural features, but mostly be concerned with incorporating recent developments, e.g., new roads and canals.

References:
E. Mathews, 1898, pp. 398-400; L. McCauley, 1975, V60; W. Ristow, 1977.

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