Reg Porter’s Heritage Blog has contributed significantly to our knowledge and understanding of the heritage of PEI. His recent series of posts related to the cartographic history of PEI are a fine example.
The series takes readers from the earliest cartographic images of the Island, through the French and English colonial mappings such as the Holland Survey, the Atlantic Neptune and the Captain Bayfield charts.
It carries on through a treatment of the Lake Map of 1863, the 1880 Meacham’s Atlas, the series of Island maps by George Wright and Henry Cundall and the 20th century map images of the Second World War.
In more than 20 well-researched, well-written and well-illustrated postings, Reg has brought the Island’s cartographic and topographic history to the attention of both experienced researchers and those with a more general interest.
Of particular interest to many are the four postings on the Meacham’s Atlas posted in August and September of 2021, which provide details on the life of the creator of the Atlas which have never before appeared in print.
Those postings also addressed the publishing process, the reaction to the publication of the Atlas, an analysis of the maps themselves and a discussion of the illustrations of farms and businesses which make the Atlas so valuable to researchers of Island history.
The presentation of this information in an electronic online format has made it available to the widest possible audience at no charge.