Titled “Redwood,” this U.S. Geological Survey topographical map presents a richly detailed portrait of a corner of Virginia around Smith Mountain Lake, mapped in 1963 and issued with a 1979 imprint. At a scale of 1:24,000, it belongs to the celebrated USGS quadrangle series, designed to render the American landscape with scientific clarity and remarkable local precision. The map captures the region at a fascinating moment: Smith Mountain Lake, now one of Virginia’s best-known recreational destinations, was still emerging into the cultural and economic role it would later assume. Around its coves, ridges, roads, and rural settlements, the map preserves a landscape poised between older patterns of Appalachian foothill life and the lakeside development that would transform tourism, property, and access.

The cartography is classic USGS: restrained, exacting, and quietly beautiful. Forested areas are shown in green, open land in white, with contour lines flowing across the sheet to describe the folded terrain of the Virginia Piedmont and Blue Ridge foothills. These lines give the map its sculptural quality, revealing the rolling hills, descending valleys, and slopes that shape movement through the region. Roads, trails, streams, and settlement names appear with functional elegance, offering both navigational utility and historical texture. The 1:24,000 scale allows for an intimate view of local geography, where small creeks, ridgelines, and rural crossroads matter. It is a map that rewards close reading, transforming an apparently modest landscape into a precise record of landform, water, and human occupation.

Smith Mountain Lake is the map’s dominant geographic presence, its branching shoreline cutting through the surrounding hills and valleys. Formed by the damming of the Roanoke and Blackwater river system, the lake quickly became a defining feature of the area, reshaping both the physical and social geography of this part of Virginia. On the map, the relationship between water and terrain is especially vivid: narrow inlets reach into wooded hollows, roads bend around coves, and elevations rise from the lake toward Smith Mountain and neighboring ridges. Today, the lake is associated with boating, fishing, vacation homes, and resort communities, but this map recalls an earlier stage in that transformation, when infrastructure and settlement were still adapting to the newly prominent waterscape.

The named places on the map—Redwood, Bodens, Phelps, Zollicoffer, and the courses of Goose Creek and the Blackwater River—anchor the sheet in a distinctly local history. These are the kinds of communities and waterways that often sit outside grand national narratives, yet they are precisely what make USGS maps so historically valuable. Rural roads, state routes, creek crossings, and scattered dwellings suggest the working geography of mid-twentieth-century Virginia: farms, wooded tracts, small settlements, and practical routes through uneven country. Some traces shown here may have shifted, disappeared, or been absorbed into later development around the lake. As a result, the map offers more than topography; it preserves a social landscape of place names, access routes, and local landmarks at a particular historical moment.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s reputation rests on maps like this: disciplined, authoritative, and built from rigorous field surveys, aerial photography, and standardized cartographic practice. Founded in the late nineteenth century, the USGS became the nation’s premier mapper of terrain, producing quadrangles that served engineers, planners, hikers, landowners, scientists, and government agencies alike. “Redwood” exemplifies that tradition, presenting Virginia not as an abstraction but as a measured, inhabited landscape. Its appeal lies in the balance between technical precision and historical atmosphere: the contouring of Smith Mountain, the watercourses feeding the lake, the patchwork of forest and clearing, and the road network of a region in transition. It is both a geographic document and a quietly evocative record of change around one of Virginia’s most recognizable inland waters.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Smith Mountain Lake
• Bodens
• Redwood
• Phelps
• Zollicoffer
• Goose Creek
• Blackwater River
• Smith Mountain
• Roads and trails surrounding the area
• State routes and major waterways

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, this historical 1:24,000 topographical map shows Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia and the surrounding area.
• The map is dated 1963 and carries a 1979 imprint.
• Published by the U.S. Geological Survey, known for producing reliable and detailed topographical maps using field surveys and aerial photography.
• Smith Mountain Lake is known for recreational opportunities and has developed significantly since the map’s creation, influencing local tourism and real estate.
• The map uses standard USGS topographical styling, with green for forested areas and white for clearings.
• Contour lines show elevation changes and help illustrate the area’s topography.
• The landscape features rolling hills and valleys typical of Virginia, along with forested regions and water bodies.
• The map captures the area during a period of development, preserving details of the natural landscape and early infrastructure that may have changed 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.