Published in 1982 using survey data from 1967, the “Davis Quadrangle” is a finely detailed 1:24,000 topographical portrait of a dramatic corner of Tucker County, West Virginia. Centered on the neighboring mountain towns of Davis and Thomas, the map captures a landscape shaped by high Allegheny ridges, forested slopes, river valleys, and the infrastructural traces of timber, coal, and mountain travel. As a USGS quadrangle, it belongs to one of the most precise and influential mapping traditions in American cartography, translating terrain into an elegant language of contours, colors, roads, streams, and place names. Its late-20th-century imprint gives the map particular historical value, recording the area at a moment when industrial legacies, recreation, and conservation were beginning to overlap.

The United States Geological Survey, the map’s publisher, has long served as the nation’s authoritative cartographic and earth-science institution, and this sheet reflects the agency’s disciplined approach to landscape representation. Rather than embellishment, its beauty lies in measured clarity: contour lines articulate the rise and fall of the Appalachian highlands, blue drainage lines reveal the network of creeks and rivers, and green tints distinguish wooded and upland terrain. At 1:24,000 scale, the Davis Quadrangle offers an intimate view suited to hikers, planners, geologists, and historians alike. Small roads, trails, ponds, ridgelines, and settlement patterns are carefully registered, creating a map that is both practical field instrument and a richly layered document of place.

Davis and Thomas, the two principal populated places shown, carry deep associations with West Virginia’s timber and coal eras. Davis grew near the Blackwater River as logging opened the surrounding spruce and hardwood forests, while Thomas developed as a coal and railroad town, its fortunes tied to extractive industry and mountain transportation. On the map, these communities appear not as isolated towns but as nodes within a rugged working landscape, connected by roads, valleys, waterways, and surrounding highlands. Names such as Scherr, Dry Fork, Timberline, Bright’s Creek, and Moorefield Road evoke the local geography of movement, settlement, and resource use. The result is a compelling snapshot of mountain communities poised between industrial history and the recreational identity that would increasingly define the region.

The physical drama of the Davis Quadrangle is carried through its terrain. The Blackwater River and its tributaries cut through the map in blue, gathering runoff from the surrounding ridges and uplands. Canaan Valley appears as one of the area’s defining landforms, a high-elevation valley known for wetlands, cool climate, and ecological richness. Nearby peaks and ridges, including Mount Porte Crayon, lend the sheet a sense of vertical grandeur, while multiple lakes and ponds punctuate the forested landscape. Smooth but persistent contouring reveals rolling hills, steeper slopes, and river-carved corridors, making the map especially evocative of the Allegheny Plateau’s varied topography. It is a landscape of water, forest, height, and weather, rendered with scientific restraint.

Beyond its navigational utility, the Davis Quadrangle preserves a valuable record of the region before later waves of development, outdoor tourism, and conservation reshaped public understanding of the area. The presence of parks, natural reserves, scenic highway segments, and unnamed trails hints at the growing importance of recreation and environmental protection in the late twentieth century. Dolly Sods Wilderness and the broader highland surroundings place the map within one of the most distinctive ecological zones of the central Appalachians, where bogs, heath barrens, spruce forests, and windswept uplands create an unexpectedly northern character. Viewed today, the map is not merely a guide to Davis and Thomas; it is a historical landscape study, capturing the delicate intersection of industry, wilderness, settlement, and preservation.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Davis, West Virginia
• Thomas, West Virginia
• Blackwater River
• Canaan Valley
• Dolly Sods Wilderness
• Scherr
• Dry Fork
• Timberline
• Bright's Creek
• Mount Porte Crayon
• Moorefield Road
• Scenic highway segments
• Various unnamed trails and roads
• Multiple small lakes and ponds
• Nearby mountain peaks and ridges
• Areas of land designated as parks or natural reserves

Historical context & cartographic details

• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Davis, Thomas, and the surrounding area in West Virginia.
• Produced by the United States Geological Survey using survey data from 1967, with a 1982 imprint.
• Published by the United States Geological Survey, a U.S. government scientific agency known for mapping and earth-science information.
• Davis and Thomas have historical significance connected to timber and coal mining in the region.
• Uses a typical USGS topographical color scheme, with contour lines showing relief and shaded colors indicating land cover and elevation.
• Water features are marked in blue, while forested and vegetated areas are shown in varying shades of green.
• Depicts rolling hills, river valleys, changing elevations, and the broader topographic character of the Davis area.
• Provides insight into the late-20th-century geography and ecology of Davis, West Virginia, before later development and conservation changes.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.