Published in 1942 by the United States Geological Survey, the “Naples Quadrangle” presents a finely detailed portrait of Naples, New York, and its surrounding Finger Lakes landscape at a revealing moment in the region’s modern history. Drawn at the notably detailed scale of 1:31,680, the map captures the relationship between village settlement, rural roads, wooded slopes, waterways, and the dramatic uplands that define this part of western New York. Naples appears as the principal focus, set amid valleys and rising terrain south of Canandaigua and within reach of Honeoye, Vine Valley, and Keuka Lake. As a wartime-era USGS production, it reflects the agency’s disciplined commitment to accurate topographic knowledge, useful for civil planning, land management, transportation, and understanding the American landscape in exacting detail.

The map’s traditional topographic language gives the terrain a sculptural clarity. Contour lines articulate the hills, valleys, ridges, and drainage patterns around Naples, transforming the landscape into a legible system of elevation and movement. Green shading indicates forested or vegetated areas, while brown tones and contouring emphasize higher ground and sharper changes in relief. Blue markings identify streams, ponds, and other water features, allowing the viewer to trace how water descends through the valleys and connects the region’s agricultural and settled areas. Roads and highways thread between natural barriers, revealing how travel routes adapted to the contours of the land. The result is not merely a technical survey, but a graphic interpretation of a rugged, fertile, and deeply textured New York landscape.

Naples occupies an especially evocative position in the Finger Lakes region, where glacially carved valleys, steep hillsides, and long lake basins have shaped settlement and agriculture for centuries. The surrounding country shown on the map hints at the area’s distinctive mixture of cultivated valleys, wooded heights, and winding rural roads. Nearby Canandaigua, Honeoye, Vine Valley, and Keuka Lake place Naples within a broader geography of lakeside communities and upland farms. This is a landscape famous for its scenic relief and agricultural richness, including vineyards, orchards, and small farms sustained by well-drained slopes and moderated lake climates. The map records the terrain beneath that cultural identity: the gradients, streams, hollows, and ridgelines that made the region both productive and picturesque.

The 1942 date lends the map particular historical resonance. It captures Naples and its environs before the postwar expansion of highways, suburban development, recreational infrastructure, and modern land-use changes transformed many parts of rural New York. Roads appear as practical connectors between villages, farms, lakes, and upland communities, while the distribution of forested areas and open land suggests patterns of cultivation, timber, and settlement inherited from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this sense, the map functions as a quiet historical document, preserving the geography of daily life: routes to market, village centers, rural crossings, watercourses, and the physical limits imposed by steep terrain. It invites comparison with the present landscape and reveals how much continuity remains beneath later development.

As a USGS quadrangle, the “Naples Quadrangle” belongs to one of America’s most important cartographic traditions: the systematic mapping of the nation through precise, standardized topographic surveys. The restrained design, clear symbology, and measured use of color express the USGS ideal of scientific elegance—beauty emerging from accuracy. For admirers of the Finger Lakes, it offers a richly informative view of the Naples area’s landforms and historic settlement pattern. For collectors of American cartography, it represents a mid-twentieth-century moment when government mapping combined field observation, geodetic precision, and refined graphic craft. Its appeal lies in that union of utility and atmosphere: a map that explains the ground while also evoking the character of a distinctive New York landscape.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Naples, NY
• Canandaigua
• Honeoye
• Vine Valley
• Keuka Lake
• Surrounding hills and valleys
• Highways and roads connecting the area
• Forested areas
• Water bodies

Historical context & cartographic details

• Map name: Naples Quadrangle
• Created in 1942
• Produced and published by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
• Shows Naples, New York, and the surrounding geographic features
• Traditional topographic design with contour lines indicating elevation changes
• Uses a 1:31,680 scale for detailed terrain representation
• Depicts hills, valleys, water bodies, roads, and vegetation
• Color scheme includes green shading for vegetation and brown tones for higher elevations
• Reflects the land use and topographic character of the area during the early 1940s
• Useful as a historical reference for changes in development and land use 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.