A large, sectioned pictorial map of the Hudson River showing four sections of the river from New York City to Bear Mountain to Kingston to Castleton to Saratoga. Inset notes and pictures are included showing historical and literary information such as battle histories and even an image of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow horseman. A border surrounds the main map and includes portraits of famous area individuals, such as politicians, and a larger portrait of Henry Hudson. The right side of the border provides a graphical history timeline. Various historic houses are shown in the bottom border, and a full-length map of the river appears in the left border. The Mary Powell, a famous Hudson River Steamboat is shown in the bottom of the main section of the map. The primary cartouche of the map reads "A map of ye mighty Hudson River Whose waters have witnessed great events in American history GEOGRAPHY, left border-MAIN EVENTS, right border, others in four detailed map sections-FAMOUS PEOPLE, above-SHIPPING & ARCHITECTURE, below."

Like many pictorial maps, this one was issued by a museum as a souvenir. The Hudson River Historical Museum has since changed its name. Newburgh is a city on the Hudson River in Orange County, north of New York City. The artist lived there.

Coulton Waugh was a painter, comic strip artist and author. He is credited by some with reviving the art of decorative mapmaking when he exhibited a large silk pictorial map of Cape Cod in 1918 at the International Silk Show (Guadazno, 2000). He created other pictorial maps, including ones of Provincetown (1924) and others related to Cape Cod, as well as a map of California (1948), a collaboration with his wife Odin. The son of maritime painter Frederick Waugh, he grew up in Provincetown, Massachusetts and later made his home in Newburgh, New York. He took over the strip "Dickie Dare" from its creator Milton Caniff in 1933, and drew it until 1957. Waugh also painted, taught art and wrote a seminal history of cartooning called The Comics (1947), one of the first serious examinations of the medium, as well as instructional books on cartooning and palette-knife painting.

References:

"Coulton Waugh." 18 January 2003. Lambiek.net http://www.lambiek.net/waugh_coulton.htm (30 January 2003).

"Destination Plymouth: Picture Maps." http://www.plimoth.org/plymtour2/asb-guid.htm (30 January 2003).

Guadazno, Laurel. "Coulton Waugh." Provincetown, MA: Provincetown Banner: 31 August 2000. http://www.provincetownbanner.com/history/8/31/2000/1 (30 January 2003).

Creason, Glenn. "A Smile of Understanding." http://www.garbell.com/creas/creason-smile-und-Sp99.html (30 January 2003).