Elaine Louise Reeves, May 1961
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to campus and our lovely Ely Hall! I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing winter break! As we are all coming back to Hudson Valley once again, I would like to feature this travel guide map, “Guide for Explorers, Gourmets, and Sunday Drivers,” as the map of the week!
This map was created as a guide for people interested in excursions. The places of interest are labeled by the circle which is divided into four quarters; each quarter corresponds to the one of the categories of “scenic view,” “restaurant,” “recreation,” and “historical interest.” Moreover, roads and trails are also marked out on the map. However, personally I feel that the distinction between the local and the numbered roads is not very clear.
Centered in the City of Poughkeepsie, this azimuthal map was probably targeted at people living in Poughkeepsie who want to explore the Hudson Valley area on weekends or during short vacations. The azimuthal projection is good for the travel map because the direction of the destination from the center of the map is preserved. In addition to showing the distance, this map also labeled the traveling time needed to the destination from Poughkeepsie on the isolines. Including the neighboring major cities–New York City, New Haven, and Albany–at the boundary, this map shows the places people can go to within 2 to 3 hours of driving.
On the right side, another map presents the interesting places in the Poughkeepsie area. For instance, this map indicates that in the 60s Raymond avenue had a lot of restaurants. Additionally, the Alumnae House is labeled as a place of “miscellaneous interest.” What might the Alumnae House and its surrounding area have been like in the 60s?
Happy New Year and good luck with the start of the new semester 😉
Yidan Xu ’24
Your student map curator
