Keep Living in the Past
‘Drawing of proposed National Airport’
courtesy of ‘DC Public Library Commons’
The District has a very cool history, and it’s amazing to think how it has changed over the years. One of the coolest parts of this history is how DC has physically changed since it was planned. We talked a little bit about this when I busted the myth that DC was built on a swamp, but here’s an even cooler way to see it: historical map overlays in Google Maps!
There are two maps you should really check out, DC in 1851 and DC in 1861. You can make these layers transparent and see how the landscape of the city has changed since then. Hains Point, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial were all water back then, but places like Georgetown look exactly the same. Take a look and leave a comment with anything cool you find!
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One Response to “Keep Living in the Past”
March 5th, 2010 at 10:36 am
[...] us know about her set of historical maps overlaid with current Google maps. A couple months back, we found the awesome 1851 and 1861 overlays that let us see how roads in the city have changed over …, and now Arthi’s maps go out even further to Annandale and Springfield. It’s cool to [...]