Rare Old Map of Abingdon, Virginia by USGS, 1935: Washington County, Holston River & Clinch River
Restored in our London workshop from the original map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in the UK
My maps are rare, museum-grade, restored old maps sourced from libraries, auction houses and private collections across the globe. Full description
Choose your size
Choose your finish
(More info)
Gift message & custom finish
If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
Every order is custom made, so if you need the size adjusted slightly, or printed on an unusual material, just let us know. We've done thousands of custom orders over the years, so there's (almost) nothing we can't manage.
You can also contact us before you order, if you prefer!
Own a piece of history
8,000+ five-star reviews
Published in 1935 by the United States Geological Survey, “River Knobs” presents the Abingdon, Virginia, region with the disciplined clarity that made...
Continue readingPublished in 1935 by the United States Geological Survey, “River Knobs” presents the Abingdon, Virginia, region with the disciplined clarity that made USGS mapping indispensable to engineers, travelers, land managers, and local officials. As an “Advance” planimetric sheet, it captures the landscape in a practical, workmanlike stage of federal cartography, emphasizing measured relationships among roads, waterways, settlements, and terrain features. The map’s title evokes the ridged, folded country of southwestern Virginia, where knobs, valleys, and river corridors define movement across the land. Centered on Washington County and the historic town of Abingdon, it records a moment when rural infrastructure, rail lines, and regional highways were beginning to reshape older patterns of settlement and commerce.
The map’s visual language is both elegant and purposeful: green tonal areas suggest the undulating uplands and wooded relief, while fine black linework articulates roads, streams, boundaries, railroads, and cultural features. This restrained palette gives the sheet a crisp legibility, allowing the viewer to read the region almost as a landscape diagram. Contour information and topographic indications reveal the complex physical setting around Abingdon, where long ridges, narrow valleys, and watercourses channel both natural drainage and human movement. Unlike decorative commercial maps, this USGS production was designed for accuracy and utility, yet its precision has its own quiet beauty: a geometry of farms, roads, rivers, and slopes rendered with confidence and restraint.
Abingdon anchors the map historically as well as geographically. One of the most significant towns in southwestern Virginia, it developed along important routes of migration, trade, and settlement, serving as a gateway between the Appalachian highlands and the broader Valley of Virginia. By 1935, Abingdon’s position along US Route 11 and near railroad corridors made it a regional hub, connecting local agricultural communities to wider markets. The map preserves the surrounding rural fabric: small settlements, unnamed creeks, ridgelines, and road junctions that together formed the lived geography of Washington County. It is a revealing portrait of a town and countryside poised between older Appalachian patterns and the accelerating mobility of the twentieth century.
Waterways give the sheet much of its structure and historical meaning. The Holston River system, including the South Fork Holston River, shaped settlement, agriculture, and transportation throughout this part of Virginia and Tennessee. Streams descending from the hills thread through valleys and hollows, marking the intimate relationship between topography and land use. The nearby Clinch River, one of the great rivers of the Appalachian region, belongs to a broader ecological and cultural landscape known for biodiversity, rugged terrain, and frontier-era movement. On the map, these rivers and creeks are not merely geographic features; they are the natural framework around which roads, farms, communities, and resource use developed.
As a 1935 document, “River Knobs” is especially valuable for the story it tells about infrastructure and change. State Routes 75 and 91, US Route 11, and railroad lines appear as part of a transportation network binding Abingdon to smaller communities, river valleys, and mountain passages. The sheet captures southwestern Virginia before many later transformations in highway construction, suburban growth, recreation, and land management altered the region’s appearance. Its advance planimetric character gives it the immediacy of a working governmental map, created to organize real space for practical decisions. Today, it offers a richly layered view of Washington County’s historic landscape: a cartographic record of terrain, movement, settlement, and the enduring Appalachian contours that shaped them all.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Abingdon, Virginia
- Washington County, Virginia
- Holston River
- Clinch River
- South Fork Holston River
- Williams Valley
- Various unnamed streams
- Virginia State Routes 75 and 91
- US Route 11
- Railroad lines
- Various unnamed hills and ridges
- Nearby small communities and rural areas
- Landmarks related to historical significance or recreational areas, indicated by symbols
Historical context & cartographic details
- Published by the US Geological Survey (USGS), known for comprehensive mapping and geological surveys across the United States
- Produced in 1935
- Titled “River Knobs”
- Identified as an Advance, Planimetric map
- Reflects meticulous early 20th-century survey methods
- Emphasizes accurate spatial representation through measured distances and angles
- Features vibrant green shades for elevation and topography
- Uses fine black lines for roads and waterways
- Rendered in topographic format with contour lines showing elevation changes
- Serves as a historical document showing land use, infrastructure, and natural features as they appeared in 1935
- Reflects an era of practical, clear cartographic design principles
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.
Published in 1935 by the United States Geological Survey, “River Knobs” presents the Abingdon, Virginia, region with the disciplined clarity that made USGS mapping indispensable to engineers, travelers, land managers, and local officials. As an “Advance” planimetric sheet, it captures the landscape in a practical, workmanlike stage of federal cartography, emphasizing measured relationships among roads, waterways, settlements, and terrain features. The map’s title evokes the ridged, folded country of southwestern Virginia, where knobs, valleys, and river corridors define movement across the land. Centered on Washington County and the historic town of Abingdon, it records a moment when rural infrastructure, rail lines, and regional highways were beginning to reshape older patterns of settlement and commerce.
The map’s visual language is both elegant and purposeful: green tonal areas suggest the undulating uplands and wooded relief, while fine black linework articulates roads, streams, boundaries, railroads, and cultural features. This restrained palette gives the sheet a crisp legibility, allowing the viewer to read the region almost as a landscape diagram. Contour information and topographic indications reveal the complex physical setting around Abingdon, where long ridges, narrow valleys, and watercourses channel both natural drainage and human movement. Unlike decorative commercial maps, this USGS production was designed for accuracy and utility, yet its precision has its own quiet beauty: a geometry of farms, roads, rivers, and slopes rendered with confidence and restraint.
Abingdon anchors the map historically as well as geographically. One of the most significant towns in southwestern Virginia, it developed along important routes of migration, trade, and settlement, serving as a gateway between the Appalachian highlands and the broader Valley of Virginia. By 1935, Abingdon’s position along US Route 11 and near railroad corridors made it a regional hub, connecting local agricultural communities to wider markets. The map preserves the surrounding rural fabric: small settlements, unnamed creeks, ridgelines, and road junctions that together formed the lived geography of Washington County. It is a revealing portrait of a town and countryside poised between older Appalachian patterns and the accelerating mobility of the twentieth century.
Waterways give the sheet much of its structure and historical meaning. The Holston River system, including the South Fork Holston River, shaped settlement, agriculture, and transportation throughout this part of Virginia and Tennessee. Streams descending from the hills thread through valleys and hollows, marking the intimate relationship between topography and land use. The nearby Clinch River, one of the great rivers of the Appalachian region, belongs to a broader ecological and cultural landscape known for biodiversity, rugged terrain, and frontier-era movement. On the map, these rivers and creeks are not merely geographic features; they are the natural framework around which roads, farms, communities, and resource use developed.
As a 1935 document, “River Knobs” is especially valuable for the story it tells about infrastructure and change. State Routes 75 and 91, US Route 11, and railroad lines appear as part of a transportation network binding Abingdon to smaller communities, river valleys, and mountain passages. The sheet captures southwestern Virginia before many later transformations in highway construction, suburban growth, recreation, and land management altered the region’s appearance. Its advance planimetric character gives it the immediacy of a working governmental map, created to organize real space for practical decisions. Today, it offers a richly layered view of Washington County’s historic landscape: a cartographic record of terrain, movement, settlement, and the enduring Appalachian contours that shaped them all.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Abingdon, Virginia
- Washington County, Virginia
- Holston River
- Clinch River
- South Fork Holston River
- Williams Valley
- Various unnamed streams
- Virginia State Routes 75 and 91
- US Route 11
- Railroad lines
- Various unnamed hills and ridges
- Nearby small communities and rural areas
- Landmarks related to historical significance or recreational areas, indicated by symbols
Historical context & cartographic details
- Published by the US Geological Survey (USGS), known for comprehensive mapping and geological surveys across the United States
- Produced in 1935
- Titled “River Knobs”
- Identified as an Advance, Planimetric map
- Reflects meticulous early 20th-century survey methods
- Emphasizes accurate spatial representation through measured distances and angles
- Features vibrant green shades for elevation and topography
- Uses fine black lines for roads and waterways
- Rendered in topographic format with contour lines showing elevation changes
- Serves as a historical document showing land use, infrastructure, and natural features as they appeared in 1935
- Reflects an era of practical, clear cartographic design principles
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.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
We work with interior designers, hospitality businesses, property professionals, offices and corporate buyers on individual pieces and larger coordinated projects.
This map can be adapted for a particular wall, room or project, and our workshop can help coordinate the dimensions, material and framing before production.
- Exact, oversized and made-to-measure dimensions
- Custom framing, mounting and alternative materials
- Coordinated pieces for several rooms or locations
- Map personalisation, to mark important locations or add extra details
- Map and framing guidance from our workshop
- Local production for projects around the world
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
Or try searching for something!
