Map of Avalon, New Jersey by USGS, 1994 – Jersey Shore, Atlantic Ocean & Coastal Bays

Titled simply “Avalon,” this United States Geological Survey quadrangle presents one of the Jersey Shore’s most admired resort communities with the precision and restraint characteristic of late twentieth-century American topographic mapping. Created in 1994 and published with a 1998 imprint, it records Avalon, New Jersey, and its surrounding coastal setting at a moment when the town’s identity as a summer destination was already well established, yet before subsequent decades of intensified development reshaped parts of the shoreline. At the 1:24,000 scale, the map offers an intimate view of streets, waterways, beaches, and low-lying terrain, balancing practical survey information with a quietly elegant portrait of a barrier-coast landscape shaped by wind, tide, recreation, and settlement.

The USGS, long regarded as the authoritative cartographic voice of the American landscape, brings to this map its standardized visual language: crisp linework, measured typography, and a disciplined palette of greens, blues, browns, and blacks. Water is cleanly distinguished from land, marsh, road, and developed area, allowing the viewer to read Avalon not merely as a seaside town, but as part of a dynamic Atlantic margin. Elevation contours are subtle but important, especially in such a low coastal environment where small changes in height can carry great significance. The result is a map that rewards close attention, revealing the engineering of roads and neighborhoods alongside the more ancient geometries of shore, inlet, bay, and tidal channel.

Avalon itself occupies a privileged place in New Jersey’s coastal geography, celebrated for its broad beaches, oceanfront homes, and seasonal rhythm of boating, swimming, fishing, and shorefront leisure. The map situates the community in relation to the Atlantic Ocean, nearby beaches, and the network of protected back-bay waters that define much of Cape May County’s character. Roads and pathways thread the town in orderly fashion, contrasting with the irregular forms of inlets, tributaries, and marsh-edged waterways. This juxtaposition is one of the map’s quiet pleasures: human design set against a coast that remains fluid, porous, and alive to daily tides and seasonal storms.

As a topographic document, the map captures the special character of a barrier-island environment, where relief is modest but geography is anything but simple. The contouring and hydrographic detail describe a landscape of beaches, dunes, wetlands, bays, and channels, each contributing to the area’s ecological and recreational value. Such features are not decorative; they are central to understanding how Avalon functions, both as a community and as a coastal system. The Atlantic shoreline offers the familiar public face of the resort, while the surrounding bays and tributaries reveal its sheltered, tidal counterpart—places associated with boating, wildlife, salt marshes, and the quieter pleasures of the backshore.

Seen today, this 1994 survey with its 1998 publication date serves as a compelling late-century snapshot of Avalon and its coastal surroundings. It documents a resort landscape at the intersection of natural vulnerability and enduring desirability, where beaches and recreational areas helped define the town’s appeal while water, marsh, and low elevation shaped the terms of habitation. For collectors drawn to coastal cartography, Jersey Shore history, or the scientific elegance of USGS mapping, “Avalon” offers more than geographic information. It preserves the measured image of a beloved seaside community within its broader Atlantic setting, an environment whose beauty, complexity, and changeability are all legible in the map’s precise topographic vocabulary.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Avalon, New Jersey
• Atlantic Ocean
• Various beaches and coastal features
• Water bodies and tributaries nearby
• Roads and pathways within the town and surroundings
• Surrounding bays and inlets
• Parks and recreational areas

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Avalon, New Jersey and the surrounding area
• Created in 1994 and published in 1998
• Shows Avalon as a notable seaside resort community in the Jersey Shore region
• Features a blue and green color scheme typical of USGS topographical maps
• Includes clear demarcation of land and water areas
• Uses standardized USGS symbols for geographic and man-made features
• Provides detailed elevation contours showing landforms and the Atlantic coastline
• Captures Avalon’s beaches, recreational areas, and coastal geography in the late 1990s

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.

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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.