Titled “Center Harbor,” this U.S. Geological Survey topographical map presents one of New Hampshire’s most beloved lake districts as it stood in 1998, with a 1999 imprint marking its publication. Issued at the detailed 1:24,000 scale, it focuses on Center Harbor while extending into neighboring Meredith and Moultonborough, capturing the intricate meeting of town, shoreline, road, hill, and water. Its provisional status lends it particular interest, reflecting a late-20th-century moment in the USGS mapping program when geographic information was being refined for modern use. The result is a richly informative portrait of the Lakes Region: practical, precise, and quietly beautiful, with the land’s folds, coves, islands, and routes rendered in the familiar visual language of American topographic cartography.

The mapmaker, the U.S. Geological Survey, has long been synonymous with authoritative American landscape mapping. Founded in 1879, the USGS transformed the nation’s understanding of its terrain through systematic surveys, standardized symbols, and finely calibrated topographic detail. In this map, that tradition is evident in the disciplined use of contour lines, hydrographic blue, woodland green, and road networks that together form a layered geographic narrative. Unlike purely decorative maps, USGS quadrangles invite close reading: every elevation change, stream course, shoreline indentation, and settlement pattern contributes to a larger understanding of place. “Center Harbor” is both a navigational document and a cultural record, preserving how this part of New Hampshire was measured, classified, and understood at the close of the twentieth century.

Water dominates the composition, most notably through the presence of Lake Winnipesaukee and Squam Lake, two defining features of central New Hampshire. The map traces the irregular shores, bays, coves, and points that give the region its distinctive character, including the Moultonborough Neck and Green’s Basin. Islands such as Bear Island, Governor’s Island, Rattlesnake Island, and Mark Island appear as part of a broader lacustrine landscape shaped by glacial history and human recreation alike. These lakes have long drawn summer residents, boaters, anglers, and travelers, and the map’s careful rendering of shorelines and access routes hints at their importance. It captures not merely bodies of water, but an entire way of life organized around harbors, landings, wooded peninsulas, and seasonal movement.

Beyond the lakes, the terrain rises and falls in the broken, wooded fashion characteristic of New Hampshire’s interior. Contour lines show hills, ridges, and localized elevation changes, including features such as Arc Hill, giving the viewer an immediate sense of the land’s physical drama. Roads and trails thread between slopes and waterfronts, connecting Center Harbor with Meredith, Moultonborough, Melvin Village, and nearby rural communities. To the north, the presence of the White Mountains is suggested as part of the wider geographic setting, reinforcing the map’s position between lake country and upland New England. Parks and recreational areas around the lakes add another layer of meaning, showing how the landscape functions simultaneously as home, habitat, vacation ground, and outdoor playground.

As a document of the late 1990s, “Center Harbor” offers a valuable snapshot of development, land use, transportation, and environmental form at a particular moment in the region’s modern history. The Lakes Region has always balanced preservation and growth, and this map records the pattern of roads, settlements, wooded areas, shorefront development, and recreational infrastructure before the accelerating changes of the twenty-first century. Its topographic language makes visible the relationship between natural constraint and human choice: communities cluster around harbors and roads, while hills, wetlands, islands, and shorelines shape the rhythm of settlement. For collectors and historians alike, it is a finely observed study of place—an elegant USGS portrait of Center Harbor and its surrounding waters, grounded in scientific precision and rich with regional character.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Center Harbor
• Moultonborough
• Meredith
• Lake Winnipesaukee
• Squam Lake
• Bear Island
• Governor's Island
• Rattlesnake Island
• Mark Island
• Melvin Village
• Ashland
• The Moultonborough Neck
• Green's Basin
• The White Mountains to the north
• Many small lakes, coves, and points along the lakeshores
• Roads and trails throughout the map area
• Mountain contours and elevation points, including Arc Hill
• Several parks and recreational areas surrounding the lakes

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the U.S. Geological Survey as a historical 1:24,000 topographical map.
• Dated 1998 and published with a 1999 imprint.
• Marked as provisional.
• Uses standard USGS topographic styling, including blue for water features and green and brown for land and elevation.
• Contour lines depict elevation changes and help represent the varied terrain.
• Shows hills, lakes, and water features characteristic of New Hampshire’s landscape.
• Reflects late-1990s geographic information, offering insight into development, land use, and landscape conditions from that period.

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.