1899 Boston and Maine Railroad Map of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire

This is an 1899 Rand Avery Supply Company and Boston and Maine Railroad map of Lake Winnipesaukee. Lake Winnipesaukee - in Abenaki 'smile of the Great Spirit' or 'beautiful water in a high place' - is the largest lake in New Hampshire and a popular resort area. Thick black lines trace the Boston and Maine Railroad's lines throughout. Dashed lines follow the course of the MS Mount Washington, a mail steamer operated by the Boston and Maine from 1872. The rival Eastern Railroad extended its services into Wolfeboro (Wolfeborough) in 1872. We speculate: given that the Boston and Maine started operating the MS Mount Washington that year, it is likely that the Boston and Maine leased the trackage from Eastern pending formal acquisition of the railroad in 1884.

Boston and Maine Railroad

Commonly known as the 'B and M', the Boston and Maine Railroad was chartered in New Hampshire on June 27, 1835. The firm consolidated several smaller companies, including the Andover and Haverhill Railroad and later the Boston and Portland Railroad. It merged with the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad in 1842, but retained the Boston and Maine operating name. In the subsequent decades it acquired or leased several other railroads, including the Boston and Lowell (1887), Northern (1884), Connecticut River (1893), Concord and Montreal (1887), and Fitchburg (1900). In 1910 it was acquired by J. P. Morgan and his New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The firm initially prospered on the development of mill towns throughout New England and later capitalized on tourism from urban centers in Boston and New York. Nonetheless, the railroad went through a decline during the Great Depression and subsequently, when most of the old textile mills closed. Part of the Boston and Maine network remain in operation today under the Pan Am Railways (PAS) brand.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by the Rand Avery Supply Company and published by the Passenger Department of the Boston and Maine Railroad in the 1899 second edition of Boston and Maine Railroad. Summer Excursions to the White Mountains, Mount Desert, Montreal and Quebec, Winnepesaukee, Memphremagag, Rangleley and Moosehead Lakes, and the New England Beaches. Routes, Rates, Maps, Hotel and Boarding-House List, etc., etc. Two examples of the map are cataloged in OCLC as part of the institutional collections at Harvard University and Dartmouth College. Scarce to the market.