This exceptionally colorful bird's eye view of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire was published in 1903 for travelers on the Boston and Maine Railroad who were headed to Lake Winnipesaukee for vacation. Numbers on the map identify specific locations of interest to a traveler and correspond to a key requiring three columns of place names that identifies the area's numerous mountains and islands. The map is double sided. On the reverse are photographs of local sites of interests for the tourist as well as 23 small pages of text. Originally, this bird's eye view map was folded in a paper pocket and could be pulled out to read while a person was travelling on the train. The text on the reverse is filled with praise for the beauty of the region around Lake Winnipesaukee as well as offering practical advice for travelling from town to town in the region. From the enthusiastic text accompanying these black and white photographs and from the compelling beauty of the color lithograph of Lake Winnipesaukee surrounded by mountains one can imagine that this print was intended to motivate travel to Lake Winnipesaukee moreso than to function as a travel guide.
Travel to the White Mountains and to Lake Winnipesaukee in the late 19th and early 20th century was primarily by train and that efficient means of transportation permitted travellers from New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts to make train connections and reach the shore of the lake which had become a popular, nationally known and highly regarded summer vacation locale. In fact, the first rowing contest between the crew of Harvard and Yale was held on Lake Winnipesaukee at Alton Bay (Harvard won).
The layered colors of this multi- color lithograph version of Geo. H. Walker and Co.'s bird's eye view of Lake Winnipesaukee distinguish it from the single color version in blue hues. The print is both a work of art and a fine example of turn of the century train travel publishing.