William Mayo’s Map of Richmond, 1737

Collections in the Classroom

Grade Level
                  Elementary, High, Middle, Pre-K                
Time Period
                  1600-1775: Colonial                
Theme
                  Community                
Resource Type
                  Post-visit material, Pre-visit material, Primary Source                

Download Collections in the Classroom: Mayo Map (pdf)

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Can you identify the James River on this map?
Look closely. What else do you notice?
How long do you think it took to walk across Richmond at the time that this map was created?
Who do you think lived here before the English colonists?

CONTEXT

William Byrd II hired William Mayo to survey and develop a plan for the town of Richmond because it reminded him of the English shire Richmond on the Thames. Beginning as a small informal village that popped up around one of Byrd’s tobacco warehouses, Richmond soon grew to be a city of trade where goods from the European continent were imported and enslaved individuals, tobacco and cotton were exported.