Old Map of Alys Beach, Florida by USGS, 1970 – Rosemary Beach & Gulf of Mexico

Published in 1972 from 1970 mapping, the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Point Washington” presents a poised and revealing portrait of Florida’s Gulf Coast at a moment before its modern resort identity had fully emerged. At the precise 1:24,000 quadrangle scale, the map records the shoreline now associated with Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach, along with the surrounding lowlands, roads, and coastal features. Its original title, spare and authoritative, reflects the USGS tradition of naming quadrangles for local geographic anchors rather than later commercial landmarks. Seen today, the map is especially evocative: it captures a stretch of the Emerald Coast before the dramatic rise of planned luxury communities, preserving the quieter geography beneath their contemporary architectural fame.

The U.S. Geological Survey brought to this map the disciplined visual language that made its twentieth-century quadrangles indispensable to engineers, planners, travelers, and collectors. Color is used with clarity and restraint: land, water, vegetation, roads, and elevation are separated into an instantly legible system, while contour lines provide the subtle but essential drama of relief. In this coastal setting, where elevation changes can be slight yet consequential, those contours become particularly meaningful. They trace dunes, flats, and gentle rises, revealing how land meets sea in a region shaped by wind, sand, wetlands, and storm. The result is a map of understated elegance, as scientifically useful as it is visually composed.

Along the Gulf of Mexico, the map records a coastline defined by beaches, inlets, marshes, and low coastal terrain, emphasizing the delicate interface between water and land. The shore near present-day Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach appears not as a dense resort corridor, but as part of a broader natural landscape of sandy margins and wetland interiors. This is one of the map’s great historical pleasures: it allows the viewer to look past today’s celebrated architecture and manicured town plans to the underlying coastal fabric. The Gulf itself forms the southern horizon, while inland features suggest the hydrology and ecology that have long governed settlement along this part of Florida.

Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach are now known for strikingly different but equally deliberate visions of coastal living: Alys Beach for its white-walled, Bermudian- and Mediterranean-inspired architecture, and Rosemary Beach for its New Urbanist planning, walkable streets, and carefully composed civic spaces. This 1970 map predates those transformations, making it a compelling document of before and after. Roads and natural features hint at the framework upon which later development would unfold, while the absence of dense urban patterning underscores the scale of subsequent change. For collectors drawn to places with layered identities, the map offers both geographic precision and a sense of anticipation, showing the coast before it became iconic.

As a historical object, “Point Washington” is valuable not merely for what it labels, but for what it preserves: a measured snapshot of Northwest Florida during the early 1970s, before rapid population growth, tourism infrastructure, and luxury coastal planning remade the area’s reputation. The USGS quadrangle format gives this transformation a rigorous baseline, fixing wetlands, roads, elevation, and shoreline in a standardized national cartographic language. Its beauty lies in that combination of objectivity and nostalgia. To study the map is to see the raw coastal stage upon which some of the Gulf’s most admired beach communities would later appear, making it a refined piece for anyone with an attachment to Florida’s changing shoreline.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Alys Beach
• Rosemary Beach
• Gulf of Mexico coastline
• Inlet along the shoreline
• Established roadways
• Natural features including wetlands and marshes
• Contour lines and elevations

Historical context & cartographic details

• Map title: Point Washington
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of the Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach area in Florida
• Created in 1970 and published with a 1972 imprint
• Produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
• Features classic USGS cartographic styling with a vibrant color palette to distinguish elevations and landforms
• Captures the area in the early 1970s, before significant development and population growth
• Documents the landscape prior to the later transformation of Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach into prominent coastal communities

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.