These maps show the potential transportation routes available in Florida in different time periods. They give an idea of the roads and railroads that early Samsulans depended on to move their produce. Viewing directions: Please allow time for images to open in your browser, as they are large files. Once they are open, navigate by placing cursor over the area you wish to enlarge, and clicking. Click again to zoom out. You can also download images by right-clicking and selecting “Save image as” and placing the image in a folder or on your desktop.

The D.D. Rogers Map of Volusia County dates to 1883. At this point in time, Samsula (Briggsville) is not yet named, but we can tell the general location of where it will be from the position of Indian Springs, the Orange Ridge, DeLand, and Atlantic railroad, and Lake Ashby Swamp.
The development of the United States railroad system after the Civil War opened many areas of Florida for development, as can be seen in this 1888 New Sectional map.
The Florida Department of Agriculture produced new sectional maps of Florida biennially. These were large-scale maps (this one is 48″ x 48″) that included, in addition to roads, railroads, cities, counties, and other map-related items, demographic and economic data. This 1920 map was originally used as a promotional item to advertise Florida’s flourishing industries, and now provides us with a snapshot in time of Florida in the last century.
The slide show features Samsula area maps from the USGS from 1956, 1959, 1972, and 1981.