This very large and wonderful map is a map of Pennsylvania that was made in approximately 1770, before our Declaration of Independence and before our Constitution, but the
colony of Pennsylvania was well established at that point, and the surveyor-mapmaker, Scull, in this case, has done an extraordinary job in rendering the colony in its then-glory. There is so much here that one could spend an hour-and-a-half just pointing to this part or that part, but some of the things that stand out are that it is really a snapshot. It is a freeze-frame of what Pennsylvania looked like at the time. In the lower right-hand corner, in the area where the red patch appears, that’s the street plan of Philadelphia. One sees all manner of locations, streams, uh, historic spots, etc. And then as one moves more to the center and to the left, not surprisingly, the amount of detail starts to disappear. In the very left-hand-most part where the two rivers that form the Ohio come together at what is now Pittsburgh, one sees the indication that that was the location of Fort Pitt, formerly Fort Duquesne – of course “Duquesne” was the name when the French dominated that section. Pitt when the British later took that part over. There’s vast empty spaces on the left-hand side of the map because, to a large degree, colonists, explorers just hadn’t gotten that far, hadn’t gotten to find all the wonderful detail that one might find today.
Unfortunately, the map of the colony is not complete because we don’t see Lake Erie in the upper left-hand corner. But, again, if we go back over to the right, up in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, we see reference to the Pocono Mountains. We see reference to the “Endless Mountains” up toward Wyalusing. There is a reference here to the “Great Swamp.” And, of course, as one goes back down south toward Philadelphia tracing the route of the Delaware River, one gets back into the part of the world that we are familiar with here in southeastern Pennsylvania. There is a reference here to Radnor, and, of course, we are here in Radnor Township. There’s a reference to Lower Merion, and there are a number of historic spots that are picked up by this methodical and wonderful mapmaker. One could spend, literally, hours and hours enjoying all of the many facets that are backed up by Mr. Scull. A wonderful map. An extraordinary map.
