Café de Nuit

While looking for maps and images of Philadelphia c.1890 I stumbled upon this site and had to share it.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html

There you will find maps, lithographs, surveys, topographic maps, transportation maps, and more dating from 1500 - 2004 from all sorts of places in the US and elsewhere.

You can only look at the maps in small sections, but they are JPGs so someone with a lot of time and patience could reassemble an authentic map of a given area. I've found that the middle-most Zoom level at 640 x 480 gives you the best resolution and clarity for downloading and reassembling.

Or you could take the easy road and download the MrSID viewer here:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/help/download_sid.html

[Homer]Mmm ... mappy goodness ... [/Homer]

Great find, I am sure many people here (myself included) will find that a useful resource

If you download the MrSID Viewer, be warned that I don't know if its a free temporary trial thing or not.

It lets you export the maps to a TIF file, and from there any good picture editing software can let you save it as a JPG or whatever.

I'd suggest getting the MrSID Viewer and downloading and exporting to TIF files all the maps you want, in case there is a shelf life for the Viewer.

That's my plan for pretty much all day tomorrow. lol

Lady Ligeia wrote:While looking for maps and images of Philadelphia c.1890 I stumbled upon this site and had to share it.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html

Strange, I found a map of Mt. Joy, PA on there which is barely 15 minutes from where I sit right now. Anyhow, are you thinking of setting your Masque game in Philadelphia? That would be odd, as so am I. Great minds and all that.

Yes ... I figure that Philly is a good hub for an 1890's era game. It is a growing city that still has a lot of open country around it, a river harber that permits fairly frequent ship traffic, and its only a short ride by rail to other major hubs like New York, Boston, Washington, etc.

Also, in one of their first adventures I want the PCs in my group to tangle with the Jersey Devil, basically just across the river from them.

Hmmm ... now that I have explord that map site some, I've found an 1891 map of my home town.

Now I am conflicted ... I was thinking of using Philadelphia, but I think it would be fun for the group to run a bunch of adventurers fighting ghoulies, ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties on our own turf 115 years ago ...

Hmm ... decisions, decisions ...

Do both!

I'm going to set my game in this here neck of the woods, though. Maybe they'll get to Philadelphia eventually. I have some stuff planned for Gettysburg, and a few of the local legends 'round here...