1805 Town Survey Maps

In 1803, the New Hampshire Legislature instructed each town in the state to prepare a survey which would be used to create an accurate map of the state.  The map was finally published in 1816 by Philip Carrigain and is known as the Carrigain map. (For more information on this important map, click here for Adam Apt's article on the map.)  The original surveys prepared by the towns survive and are in the New Hampshire Archives in Concord.  We've scanned about two dozen.  As you'll see, the quality of our images varies.  The originals, over 200 years old, are in varying states of preservation and some scanned better than others.  Several have various notations, made over the years, which can require careful study.  The surveys were done by local surveyors in each area and vary greatly in the amount of detail included and the artistic interest of the map.  For comparative purposes, we've included the Stratham survey, done by Phinehas Merrill, a highly skilled surveyor and artist. (See last item on this page.)

      Clicking on any map will take you to a larger version.