This past Saturday, the Rochester Historical Society opened its new exhibit: Maps, Signs and Celebrations, Part 1. This exhibit displays some of the signs and maps in our collection and connects both to people and places. The display was not originally going to be divided into two parts, but I underestimated the depth of our collection.
Another piece of the exhibit is Celebrations. Through its history, the people of Rochester (which for differing numbers of years included Wareham, Mattapoisett and Marion) have found many reasons for celebration. Indeed, so many that we’ll have to wait until fall, 2023 for the Bicentennial, Tricentennial and Millennial festivities. Our exhibit was supported by the Rochester Cultural Council, a local agency, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. We also want to thank the Friends Market at Plumb Corner, Fieldstones, The Secret Garden, Matt’s Blackboard, Capt. Bonney’s, Adrian’s, Lloyd’s and Mike Daniels for their generous contributions to our raffles.
The map shown in the picture is a priceless item in our collection. It is a pull-down Walling map of Rochester in 1856. This map probably graced a classroom wall in that era. Walling maps are prized because their creator, H.F. Walling was well respected in the field of cartography.
Henry Francis Walling was born in Burriville, Rhode Island on June 11, 1825. He attended Rhode Island public schools and after graduating, he worked as an assistant librarian at the Providence Athenaeum while studying math and surveying. Like many other surveyors of the time, he moved into mapmaking. His specialty was maps of New England towns, cities and counties that he had surveyed. In the mid 1800’s, he opened the H.F. Walling Map Establishment in New York. Later, he relocated to Cambridge, MA.
Walling died April 8, 1888 and today his maps are highly sought after and many are found in the special collections of libraries.
By Connie Eshbach