Published in 1988 from 1984 data, “Hammonton, New Jersey” presents a richly detailed USGS portrait of southern coastal New Jersey at a scale of 1:100,000. Although named for inland Hammonton, the map extends outward to embrace the celebrated shore around Beach Haven, Long Beach Island, Little Egg Harbor, and the barrier-beach landscapes facing the Atlantic. It captures a 1980s moment in the region’s geography, when resort towns, bayfront communities, roads, rail lines, wetlands, rivers, and wooded interior tracts were all recorded with the sober precision of federal topographic mapping. The result is both a practical geographical document and an evocative historical view of a coastline shaped by tourism, maritime life, environmental change, and suburban growth.

The United States Geological Survey, founded in 1879, became the preeminent American authority for scientific mapping, and this map reflects the agency’s disciplined cartographic language. Contour lines, hydrographic detail, transportation networks, settlement names, and color-coded land and water areas are organized with clarity and restraint. The style is functional yet quietly elegant: blue waterways thread through green lowlands and pale developed areas, while the subtle rhythm of contouring reveals shifts in elevation across what many imagine to be a flat coastal plain. As with the finest USGS work, the map’s beauty lies in its synthesis of science and place, transforming survey information into a legible, deeply informative landscape.

The coastal section is especially compelling, centered on Beach Haven and the broader chain of Long Beach Island, where narrow landforms separate the Atlantic Ocean from protected bays and inlets. Little Egg Harbor, Barnegat, Cedar Bonnet Island, Stafford, Manahawkin, Waretown, Forked River, Bayville, and Toms River appear within a setting defined by marshes, waterways, beaches, and tidal edges. These names evoke a distinctive New Jersey shore world: fishing communities, summer resorts, quiet bay settlements, and low-lying ecological zones. The map’s depiction of water is particularly important, since the region’s identity depends on the relationship between ocean, barrier island, estuary, and mainland. Here, geography and culture are inseparable.

Inland, the map opens into the Pine Barrens and the river systems that drain toward the coast, including the Mullica River and Absecon River. Hammonton itself anchors this interior landscape, historically associated with agriculture, rail connections, and access between Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and shore communities. Atlantic City appears as a major coastal landmark, its urban profile contrasting with the more dispersed settlements and natural tracts around it. The inclusion of state and local parks, lakes, ponds, roads, and railroad lines offers a layered view of movement and land use in the late twentieth century. It is a map of transitions: from forest to town, river to bay, mainland to island, and inland agriculture to coastal recreation.

As a historical document, “Hammonton, New Jersey” is particularly valuable for the way it records the shore and its hinterland before decades of further development, conservation policy, storm adaptation, and infrastructure change. The 1980s were a pivotal period for coastal New Jersey, balancing resort expansion and suburban growth with increasing awareness of wetlands, barrier-island vulnerability, and fragile estuarine habitats. This map preserves that moment with admirable precision, showing the spatial relationships that shaped daily life: highways leading to beaches, rail corridors threading through towns, rivers carving natural corridors, and communities clustered along bays and oceanfronts. It invites close reading, rewarding both collectors of American topography and anyone drawn to the layered geography of the New Jersey coast.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Hammonton
• Beach Haven
• Atlantic City
• Little Egg Harbor
• Lacey
• Barnegat
• Stafford
• Waretown
• Manahawkin
• Forked River
• Bayville
• Toms River
• Pine Beach
• Cedar Bonnet Island
• Long Beach Island
• Mullica River
• Absecon River
• Various lakes and ponds
• State and local parks
• Coastal features and beach areas
• Major roads and highways
• Railroad lines

Historical context & cartographic details

• Historical 1:100,000 topographical map of Hammonton, Beach Haven, and the surrounding New Jersey area
• Produced in 1984 and published with a 1988 imprint
• Created by the United States Geological Survey, a U.S. government scientific agency known for detailed geographic and geological mapping
• Shows a 1980s snapshot of the region’s development, land use, and environmental features
• Uses standard USGS topographic design, including contour lines to represent elevation changes
• Clearly differentiates land and water features through color
• Depicts waterways, lakes, rivers, hills, valleys, and other topographical elements
• Includes surrounding coastal features and beach areas of southern New Jersey

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 20x36in (50x90cm) 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.