Collection
of seven manuscript estate
maps and plans by James H.
Baker, the Surveyor General
of Antigua, 1821. These estate
maps of the property of Peter
Langford Brooke, Esq. are
of superb quality on heavy-grade
paper with color wash and
delicate decorative cartouches.
The maps contain detailed
information about the sugar
plantation environment, including
field patterns, names of bordering
land owners, buildings and
their uses, and the location
of slave quarters. While estate
plans were commonly produced
in England during the 17-19th
centuries, a much smaller
number was produced and even
fewer have survived for the
plantations in the southeastern
United States and Caribbean
Islands. Since the Library
holds only a few examples
of 18th and 19th century estate
plans, this acquisition would
provide a valuable resource
for historical geographers
and historians studying the
plantation economy and Afro-American
settlement patterns.
