EXHIBIT: Mapping America’s Early Years

Mapping America’s Early Years
A Tribute to the Vision of the Early Explorers and the Founding Fathers
(With a special emphasis on Virginia)

The exhibit, curated by Scott Ballin, features over 20 maps of America and Virginia ranging from the early 17th century to the early 18th century. The Exhibit addresses historical and cultural turning points using a series of story boards and the maps as aids. All of the maps in the Exhibit are original (save two). Maps played a crucial role in defining territories and boundaries and were often used as the basis for the signing of treaties. Included in the Exhibit are a 1630 map of Virginia by William Blaeu (a famous Dutch cartographer), and a 1670 map by J. Danckerts (Dutch) showing California as an island and the critically important Fry-Jefferson (Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson) map of Virginia published in 1755.

As I put this exhibit together I became increasingly aware of the tenaciousness of the people who formed this nation from the first settlers at Jamestown, to the founding fathers such as Washington and Jefferson, to ordinary people who had their own visions about the future of the country and who came to America seeking a new life.–Scott Ballin, Exhibit Curator

The Exhibit will run from September – December. This is the historical socieity’s final exhibit for the year in the History Gallery, located in the R.R. Smith Center for History and Art, 20 South New Street, Staunton Virginia. The exhibit is free and open to the public

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