1840 Burr Map of Sullivan County, New York

This is a rare 1840 David H. Burr map of Sullivan County, New York published by Stone and Clark. Providing a highly detailed illustration of Sullivan County, the map depicts the region from Pennsylvania to the Shawangunk Creek and from the northernmost point in Sullivan County to the Delaware River and the Shawangunk Mountains. Individual towns are illustrated, labeled, and shaded different colors to allow for easy differentiation. Each town is divided into numerous private land claims, some of which are identified by name. Villages, such as Thompsonville, Phillipsport, Fallsburgh, and Neversink are labeled, as is the county seat at Monticello. Mills, forges, manufactories, and churches are also noted, as are county roads and stage roads. The Delaware and Hudson Canal, though not illustrated, is labeled as following 'the margin' of the Delaware River near the bottom border. The Mount Hope and Lumberland Turnpike is also labeled, as are numerous brooks, streams, and ponds.

A Short History of Sullivan County and the Borscht Belt

Sullivan County was founded in 1809 after it was split from Ulster County and named for John Sullivan (1740 - 1795), who was a general in the Continental Army, a delegate to the Continental Congress, and a Governor of New Hampshire. In the late 19th century, the Industrial Revolution and the advent of factories driven by water power along the streams and rivers of Sullivan County led to an increase in population attracted by these jobs. Hamlets enlarged into towns. As industry restructured, many of those jobs left before the middle of the twentieth century. The economy changed again after that, shifting to a more tourist-based variety and benefiting from resorts established by European Jewish immigrants and their descendants in what became called the Borscht Belt. Resort hotels featured a wide variety of entertainers, some nationally known. At the beginning of this period, visitors traveled to the area by train, and later by automobile. The area's natural resources also provided a setting for numerous summer camps frequented by the children of immigrants and their descendants. By the late 1960s, family resort vacations had begun to lose their appeal among America's youth. Many of the hotels and resorts closed during the 1970s, and by the mid-1980s nearly all of them had shut their doors. The beloved classic Dirty Dancing takes place at a fictionalized version of one of these resorts.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by David H. Burr in 1829 and republished by Stone and Clark in 1840 (present example). Per David Rumsey, this map is part of an unrecorded edition of Burr's An Atlas of the State of New York…, published in 1840 by Stone and Clark. We have been able to locate one other example of this 1840 edition of Burr's map of Sullivan County in the David Rumsey Map Collection at Stanford. An incomplete example of the 1840 Stone and Clark edition of Burr's An Atlas of the State of New York… is part of the collection at the New York Public Library.