Titled “Littleton,” this United States Geological Survey topographic map presents a finely measured portrait of northern New Hampshire, dated 1971 and issued with a 1988 imprint. At the classic 1:24,000 scale, it captures Littleton and its surrounding countryside with the precision that made USGS quadrangles indispensable to engineers, hikers, planners, and historians alike. The town appears amid a landscape shaped by watercourses, wooded uplands, road corridors, and the long-settled patterns of the Ammonoosuc River valley. More than a navigational document, the map is a moment in civic and environmental time: Littleton as it stood in the early 1970s, before later decades of development subtly altered roads, land use, and the edges of town.

The map’s topographic language is elegant in its restraint: brown contour lines ripple across the sheet, revealing the hilly terrain surrounding Littleton with scientific clarity. Valleys, ridges, peaks, and saddles emerge through elevation intervals, allowing the viewer to read the land almost three-dimensionally. Blue waterways thread through the composition, marking the Ammonoosuc River, Passage Brook, the East Branch, and Moore Reservoir, while green woodland areas and darker cultural symbols help distinguish forest, settlement, transportation, and infrastructure. This disciplined USGS style is part of the map’s appeal—unornamented, authoritative, and deeply informative, transforming a rural New England landscape into a precise visual record of terrain, access, and habitation.

Littleton itself occupies a historically important position in New Hampshire’s North Country, set along routes that connect the White Mountains, the Connecticut River valley, and the wider borderlands of Vermont and Maine. The presence of US Route 302 and rail lines reflects the town’s role as a regional hub, linking local commerce, tourism, and transportation across a rugged landscape. The map records this network with quiet exactitude: roads curve around hillsides, cross streams, and converge near the populated center, while smaller routes extend outward toward farms, forests, and recreational lands. In this way, the quadrangle documents both the natural geography of the region and the human systems that adapted to it.

Water is one of the defining features of the mapped landscape. The Ammonoosuc River, one of the notable waterways of northern New Hampshire, anchors the scene, its course accompanied by tributaries and lowland corridors that shaped settlement and movement. Moore Reservoir adds another striking element, suggesting the interplay of natural drainage, hydrology, and engineered water management. Smaller lakes and brooks lend the map a distinctly New England character, where uplands are punctuated by reflective waters and narrow stream valleys. Around them, contour patterns show how closely the region’s communities are tied to the terrain: mills, roads, and town centers historically favored riverbanks and gentler grades, while steeper slopes remained wooded or lightly developed.

As a historical document, this map offers a valuable benchmark for understanding change around Littleton over the last half-century. Its contours preserve the enduring structure of the land, while its roads, trails, railroads, and land-cover markings reveal the built and working landscape of the early 1970s. Littleton State Forest and surrounding recreational traces point to the area’s outdoor identity, balancing town life with access to hills, streams, and forested terrain. For collectors, historians, and admirers of New Hampshire geography, the map combines scientific authority with regional atmosphere. It is a cartographic window onto a specific place at a specific moment, rendered with the understated beauty of the USGS topographic tradition.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Littleton
• Moore Reservoir
• Ammonoosuc River
• Passage Brook
• East Branch of the Ammonoosuc River
• Littleton State Forest
• US Route 302
• Railroads
• Smaller lakes
• Hiking or recreational trails
• Nearby peaks and hills with elevation markers

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Littleton, New Hampshire and the surrounding area
• Created in 1971 and published with a 1988 imprint
• Features classic USGS topographic styling, including contour lines, a clear legend, and color-coded landforms and water bodies
• Shows hilly terrain with contours indicating peaks, valleys, rivers, lakes, and other landscape features
• Reflects the landscape and development of Littleton and the surrounding area in the early 1970s
• Useful as a reference for changes in land use and development over time

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.