Springer Mountain Map 1935 — Framed USGS Appalachian Trail Print

Which finish

The same print, five ways

Prices are for the size you have chosen above — change the size and these change with it. Tap one to choose it.

Framed and canvas arrive ready to hang. Paper arrives as the print alone — if you are framing it yourself, measure the print size, not the framed size quoted in the picker. Every finish is the same restored file at the same resolution: the finish changes what the print is mounted on, never the image.

The story of this map

Every northbound thru-hike begins on Springer Mountain, and this is the sheet the mountain sat on when the trail was new. The US Geological Survey issued the Noontootla quadrangle as an advance sheet in 1935, mapped from aerial photographs with the Tennessee Valley Authority, five years after the first Georgia miles of the Appalachian Trail were cut and two years before the trail was finished end to end.

It is an unusually handsome sheet. The Chattahoochee National Forest is laid in as a solid green tint that stops at the forest boundary, so the map divides itself into wild country and farmed country along a wandering line. Springer Mountain is marked with a surveyor’s triangle at the bottom edge, and the gaps a hiker still walks through — Hightower, Sassafras, Winding Stair — are printed in the Survey’s plain lettering.

The contour interval is forty feet, close enough that the ridges read as ridges: Rich Mountain, Tennessee Valley Divide, the Blue Ridge itself running diagonally across the lower third of the sheet.

We print it as a restored reproduction in our Framed Topographic Maps collection. It reads as a hiker’s map rather than a decorator’s map, which is the point — it suits a hallway, a gear room, or a gift for someone who started here.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Springer Mountain Topographic Map, 1935: archive scan compared with the restored print

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Scanner margins squared up, colour cast and levels balanced while keeping the warm tone of the paper, dust and specks removed, gentle sharpening. No contour, name or symbol is redrawn, and nothing is added that the surveyors did not print.

About this particular sheet. These sheets are scans of the Survey's own file copies. Small archive stamps, pencilled accession numbers and, on older sheets, the creases of having been folded, sit in the paper margins outside the map itself. They are part of the sheet's history and we print them as they are rather than paint them out. This sheet was folded in the archive and the fold lines are faintly visible across the map.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.

Questions

Is this an original antique map?

No. It is a new archival print made from a restored high-resolution scan of the 1935 sheet held in the US Geological Survey's Historical Topographic Map Collection. We never sell originals.

Is the Appalachian Trail marked on this map?

Yes. The trail is drawn on this sheet as a dashed line and labelled in the Survey's spaced capitals; we checked it at full resolution rather than assuming it from the date.

What ground does the sheet cover?

The Noontootla, Georgia quadrangle at 1:24,000. Named on it: Springer Mountain, Hightower Gap, Hawk Mountain.

How large can I print it?

Up to 32 × 48 inches. Every size we offer is checked against the restored file itself, so the largest size listed is one this scan genuinely supports at 200 dpi or better — we do not upscale.

Does it come framed?

Yes, if you choose a framed option. Prints are made to order on archival matte paper and framed in black, white or oak in or near the country of delivery; unframed paper and canvas are also available.

Colours vary between screens and paper. The tone you see here is a close match to the archival matte print; framed prints have no glass glare in these previews.

Complete the wall

Add a second print and take 10% off the cheaper framed one

Priced at whatever size and finish you have chosen above, so the pair total is the real one. Change the size and these change with it.

Mount Guyot and the Great Smoky Mountains Topographic Map, 1912

Yosemite Topographic Map, 1909

Grand Canyon Bright Angel Topographic Map, 1903

The 10% comes off the cheaper framed print and is applied at checkout. Paper and canvas prints do not qualify on their own — the discount needs two framed prints in the cart.

From people who bought it

Every review here is from a verified order — the link is signed and sent 21 days after delivery, so nobody can review a print they did not buy. We read them before they go up and we do not edit them. We send a 10% code for leaving one, whatever it says: the code is never conditional on a rating, and we publish criticism. We hold a review back only if it is abusive, defamatory, off-topic or an advertisement, and we tell the writer why. The rules are here.

Size	Metric	Best for
12×16 in	30×41 cm	Desk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
12×18 in	30×46 cm	Desk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
16×20 in	41×51 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
16×24 in	41×61 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
20×20 in	51×51 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
18×24 in	46×61 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
24×24 in	61×61 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
20×30 in	51×76 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
24×30 in	61×76 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
24×32 in	61×81 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
24×36 in	61×91 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
30×40 in	76×102 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
32×48 in	81×122 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office

Springer Mountain Topographic Map, 1935

The same print, five ways

Before and after

Restoration notes

Add a second print and take 10% off the cheaper framed one