Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Maryland’s growing population continually altered the natural landscape.  New transportation networks encouraged settlement of formerly remote areas. Heavy industry at mines, metal forges, and grain mills took root in the countryside near rivers and streams, employing the power source and transportation that water provided. Maryland’s vast forests afforded so much timber for fuel and material for construction that many mountains were stripped completely bare.

Wilderness gradually gave way to cultivated farmland; trails to roads, canals, and railways; and farmland to towns and cities.  Artists and printmakers sought to record Maryland’s natural landscapes and the native plants and animals inhabiting it, before they disappeared. At the same time printmakers proudly documented the growth and expansion of cities like Cumberland, Frederick, Hagerstown, and Baltimore. 
 

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