As an artist and designer with an interest in local history I decided I might make a decorative map of Block Island in the tradition of Sydney Burleigh. So I collected any information that might find its way into my map. I looked at lots of maps, some from every period in history. There is an infinite number of ways to draw a map. I decided I would make my map look like the one I had been trying to find. The one in my mind’s eye. Ideally it would be a decorative map that might have been made in the early-to-mid 20th century. My map is completely hand drawn and hand lettered. This time period pre-dates the computer.

The map was printed in offset lithography on acid-free paper. While it appears to be one color (blue) it is actually printed as three colors. The background (buff) and two hits of the blue (for density). The colors and the inks were carefully chosen for their fade-resistant qualities.

Unframed 26.5 x 35.25 inches.

—Joseph Gilbert


Published on the occasion of the 350th Anniversary of Block Island. A copy of this map has been accepted in the permanent collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society.