Mapping History

Historic Cold Spring Village (HCSV) is a functioning 19th century village, that demonstrates a national and local historical narrative. The HCSV has interpreters and artisans who help to demonstrate the daily tasks that were typical for American citizens during this period in history. Along with demonstrations, interpreters provide historical context and tours of buildings to provide both national and local historical context to the museum. To achieve the look and authenticity of an original 19th century village, over fifteen historic homes and buildings from Cape May County were relocated and positioned to represent a village of this time period. The relocation of these buildings has served three purposes for the museum. First, this relocation has helped to preserve historic sites from potential harm. Second, these buildings provide originality and authenticity of the time period that is being interpreted for patrons. Finally, the local history of Cape May County is able to be preserved and intertwined with a more national history.[1] Although there are many people from Southern New Jersey who remember the creation of the HCSV and the movement of the historic buildings from their original locations to their new home, many others may find it hard to visualize the distances and effort it would have taken to complete this goal. The map that I have created, called Historic Homes of Cold Spring, helps to provide context to where these buildings originally were located in relation to Historic Cold Spring Village. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zK-lp0w6TBDg.kwJc_lzsHrMI

In this map the data was split into two layers. The first layer is the location of Historic Cold Spring Village, which is marked as a red pin on the map. The second layer of data is the original locations for a sampling of the historic homes and buildings now at HCSV. This layer a data is represented with yellow house icons, and each location has its original building name, date, and a very quick description of its original use and current use. The two pictures below demonstrate how this data is presented from a very zoomed out view (where NJ as a whole is visible), and a zoomed in view (which shows Cape May County). From the zoomed out view it is very hard to understand and interpret the data that is presented, which can obscure the overall intent of a map project. However, the more zoomed in image better represents the distances between the Village and ten buildings that were relocated. From this vantage point, audiences can see how many towns and their histories have been involved in the creation of the HCSV museum. It also allows views to think critically about the strategies and issues involved when a historic building may be completely relocated to a new sight.

Although there are many advantages to using mapping to visualize data, there are some pitfalls for certain projects. One problem is being able to provide an accurate and current street to adequately represent where a historic building or location would be today. For instance, many of the buildings at Cold Spring could not be included in the mapping data because the locations either do not currently exist, or are in a location that does not have an exact street address. Without an exact or even rough street address it is hard for Google to the location that you are looking for, and therefore can make your data incomplete or the pins inaccurate. Another issue is that style settings are greatly limited. Map layouts, and data tools have a nice range of style options, but if these do not fit the potential mapping project or can not advance the visual effect that the creator is looking for it can be limiting. However, for a free technological tool this is not an end all issue.

Zoomed out View of Historic Homes of Cold Spring

Zoomed In View of Historic Homes of Cold Spring

[1] http://www.hcsv.org/