Maps

Maps have always fascinated me.

1838 Burr Map of Poughkeepsie available for viewing at: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/cb3c4780-c5ed-012f-c5cc-58d385a7bc34?canvasIndex=0

When I first studied maps and globes in a unit on the explorers in elementary school, I traced the route of Henry Hudson as he attempted to find a northwest passage to the exotic land of China. We children already knew that the land of Marco Polo could be reached if we could only dig and dig and dig a hole just a little deeper. Around the same time, I traced the journey of Laura Ingalls and her pioneer family while reading The Little House books.

A few years later, I imagined the Yorkshire moors as depicted by Charlotte Bronte and her sister Emily. My inspiration continued to be rooted in a book, yet my visualization of the setting was enhanced by a topographic map. As I read Charlotte Bronte’s words, I once again journeyed to another time and sometimes another land.

"My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers 
brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest 
of the heath for her ; out of a sullen hollow in a livid hill-side her mind could make an Eden. 
She found in the bleak solitude many and dear 
delights ; and not the least and best loved was 
liberty." 

Is it the freedom to select “the [road] less traveled by”, explore the unknown, follow your hero’s journey, or perhaps an intangible yearning that draws you forward? For me, my life’s journey always begins with a story. Whether it is history, world literature, or words heard in passing, I have the desire to preserve the moment and begin to annotate, research, plot the points on a map and take the first step towards an unrealized and occasionally realized journey. Although I do not always physically arrive at a new location, my unrealized journeys are accompanied by the thrill of exploring a new territory. That yearning never wanes.

I hear the words…

“Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide”

and I begin again…

• Who is your muse?
• What inspires you?
• How do you explore?
• What do maps mean to you?

Dutchess County