Mapmaker Jane Crosen with Her New 'Coastwise' Edition of Colby's 1881 Washington County Atlas

Eastport Arts Center’s annual winter Sunday series concludes on April 27 at 3 pm, when editor, mapmaker, and author Jane Crosen will give a slide presentation on her newly arranged Coastwise edition of Colby’s 1881 Atlas of Washington County. 

The original edition of the Atlas was compiled, drawn, and published by George N. Colby in 1881 in Houlton and Machias, Maine. A collection of maps based on charts and surveys, the Atlas was engraved and printed in Philadelphia; only 300 hand-colored copies were printed, now collectors’ items. As a small publisher and map researcher, Crosen wanted to keep Colby’s historic maps in print in a more user-friendly format, grouping related maps—towns, villages, timber lot plans—in geographic order, “as schooners would sail coastwise downeast with the prevailing winds.” Her newly arranged layout includes 40 period photos capturing Washington County’s landscape and towns as they existed during the age of sail.

Jane will share her journey of sifting through historic photos for the new edition and sleuthing the stories behind them. She’ll show period photos from Eastport, Lubec, and around Washington County, amid the context of Colby’s maps of the 19th-century landscape, and offer tips on searching photo collections and historic maps and charts. 

Crosen’s life as an editor and mapmaker began with a job at DeLorme Publishing, working on the 1981 edition of the Maine Atlas & Gazetteer. “To do my job I had to learn to research places and read maps, and I’ve loved ‘map-sleuthing’ ever since.” As Maine Mapmaker she has created a series of hand-drawn maps of Maine regions, including Passamaquoddy Bay & The Fundy Isles, available as posters and other items. Along with her Coastwise editions of Colby’s Hancock and Washington county atlases, she has also published Maine Mapmaker’s Kitchen and a new cookbook, Culinary Landscapes. 

Along with arranging Colby’s maps geographically, Crosen has added a comprehensive index correlating historic place names with their current ones. The new edition also includes a sidebar on the Passamaquoddy heritage found in many place names in Sunrise County.

The Coastwise Geographic Edition of Colby’s 1881 Atlas of Washington County is available at West Quoddy Gifts in Lubec, Raye’s Mustard in Eastport, Smithereen Farm Store in Pembroke, and other local stores and historical societies. Copies of Crosen’s atlas and new cookbook will be available for purchase after the talk. For more about her work, visit www.mainemapmaker.com. 

Sunday series programs are offered by donation, with no one turned away for lack of funds. Proceeds will be shared between the presenters and the EAC, committed to sustaining programs like these.