1889 Ewer Map of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts w/ Old Colony Line Ad

This attractive c. 1886 map is a reduced version of Reverend F. C. Ewers important 1869 map of Nantucket. It was issued to promote the Old Colony Line, the 'Shortest, Quickest, Best, and Only Direct Route between Boston or New York and Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.'

A Closer Look

Printed in Nantucket, this variant was issued by the Old Colony Line in various formats from roughly 1872 to 1889. The map includes a textual timeline of Nantucket from its discovery by Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 to the laying of the first communications cables between Nantucket and the mainland in 1886 - hence our dating.

The Ewer Map

The Nantucket historian Joseph Garver provides an excellent description

Ewer's map provides a detailed synopsis of Nantucket's history, beginning with Gosnold's sighting of the island in 1602. The chronological table identifies the major stages in Nantucket's development - its early settlement and land divisions, the evolution from shore to deep-sea whaling, the establishment of religious and educational institutions, and the development of the transportation network connecting Nantucket with the mainland (and Nantucketers with one another). Ewer also notes events that marked the transition from one era to the next - the first island whaler to seek its prey in the Pacific (1791), the death of the last Indian (1822), the great fires of 1836 and 1846, and the first gaslight in 1854. In a more graphic form, the map indicates the sites of old settlements and burial grounds, as well as the boundaries of sachem rights, the former shoreline, old fishing stages, and whaling stations. (Garver, G. Surveying the Shore, p. 115.)

The Present Map

The present map follows the updates and modifications to the Ewer plan introduced by J. B. Swain in or around 1886. Swain's revisions of the large-scale original were intended for a reissue promoting the Hotel Nantucket, shown here on Brant Point. The hotel was a response to growing 'summering' interest in Nantucket and was the first major hotel on the island. We know Swain was a Nantucket hotelier in his final years, so his association with the Hotel Nantucket, while not fully verified, is almost certain. We also know that the hotel was built on 'Society of Friends' land, and that Swain was closely associated with the 'Friends' in Nantucket. In any case, Swain massively revised the Ewer map. He further updated it to reflect recent changes on the island, including the construction of the Hotel Nantucket, the Nantucket Railroad from the harbor to Surfside and on to Siasconset, and life-saving stations at Coskata and Muskeget Island. He also notes, in 1877, the 'Great Temperance Movement.' The table of historical events has been updated to 1886 and reflects these and other developments.

Old Colony Line

The Old Colony Line was a subsidiary of the Old Colony Railroad, which from 1844, developed and operated a rail line between Boston and Plymouth. By acquiring or merging with its competitors, the Old Colony Railroad became the dominant railroad in southeastern Massachusetts. They expanded their network with steamship service between New York City and Fall River. In 1872, they inaugurated the Old Colony Line, a steamer between Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. The Old Colony Railroad was acquired in 1893 by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. Some of the railroads established by the Old Colony Railroad remain in operation to this day, among them the Old Colony and Newport Railway.

Publication History and Census

This map has a complex, confusing, and little-researched publication history. It was originally drawn and published by Ferdinand Cartwright Ewer in 1869. That edition was large, measuring more than 40 inches wide. It was reissued around 1886 for the opening of the Nantucket Hotel. Around the same time, a reduced version emerged to promote the Old Colony Line, with a large medallion to this effect in the lower right. This edition is the most common and was republished in many variations. The timeline on most such examples terminated in 1886. Examples were published in books, such as Nantucket in a Nutshell, as well as in separate issue pamphlets, as here, passed out at the Nantucket Hotel and other tourist 'hot spots.' These scarcer more ephemeral issues, often with advertising on the verso, are particularly desirable. Examples are scarce and typically in poor condition.