1960 Travelmat Place Mat Map of Highway 1 in Florida: Parrotheads Take Note

This is a 1960 Travelmats Corporation of America pictorial 'Travel mat' illustrating the Scenic Highway U.S. 1, running from Key West to Jacksonville, Florida. It also depicts State Road A1A, now known as the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.

A Closer Look

The map covers Route 1, noting the distances between important waypoints. It also depicts State Road A1A, running parallel to the east of Route 1, along the Atlantic, linking the Floridian coastal cities of Jacksonville Beach, Flagler Beach, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Miami Beach to the tropical coral islands of the Florida Keys. It identifies towns, restaurants, beach clubs, museums, hotels, and motels and suggests interesting stopping points. Some locations feature short descriptions and summaries of services available. Specific attractions along the way are illustrated - such as the Southeast Museum of the North American Indian in Marathon and the race track at Daytona Beach. Cape Canaveral reflects the very early stage of the American space program: pictured here is 'The Titan, second of America's Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles,' a rocket never employed for crewed spaceflight. (Mercury used Redstone and Atlas rockets, while Gemini would rely on the Titan II rocket.)

Travelmats Corporation of America

The Travelmats Corporation of America (1948 - c. 1972) was an American advertising and publishing company based in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, founded by J. Alvin Dru'yor. Travelmats manufactured place mats of well-traveled highways and distributed them to restaurants, motels, hotels, and other places frequented by tourists across the United States. The company began publishing its 'Adventures in Travel' guidebook, or 'map-book' in 1948. In 1963, Dru'yor stated that businesses nominated for their guidebook should have a parking lot, good food, be modern and clean, and give the traveler outstanding value and service. By 1965, the company, which was started as an offshoot of a weekly newspaper in Prairie du Chien, grew to nearly 4,000 subscribers and was the second-largest company in the United States that provided tourist information. Travelmat's ultimate fate is unclear, but Dru'yor retired in 1972.

Publication History and Census

Travelmats were not clearly dated but bore codes that correspond closely to their publication year. This Travelmat bears the code 360, which fits a contextual dating of 1960. This map was published by Travelmats Corporation of America. We see no other examples of this on the market, and there are no examples of this specific Travel Mat listed in OCLC. The Newberry Library has an impressive collection of Travel Mats, but the Scenic Hi-Way U.S. 1 is not among them.