Community Corner

The Map Maker: Westwood Resident Draws History

Ed McCarthy expresses art through creating historical maps.

It may have started as a hobby, but for Ed McCarthy, the entertainment of creating historical maps soon became an obsession.

"I'm a big history buff," said McCarthy, a licensed Boston paramedic and a resident of Cedar Hill Drive in Westwood. "I like reading about the background of things and reading about the areas I frequent."

McCarthy, an avid reader of history books, took his interest and used it to create historical maps of various towns and neighborhoods through Boston and the suburbs, including Westwood.

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"There are things you can find on an old town map that aren't there any more," he said. "And there are things you can find on a satellite photo that you can't see on the street level. And ten there are things you can find out by only walking around."

It all began in 2007, while waiting for calls as an ambulance driver and EMT in Boston.

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"Between the ambulance calls, we're sitting at the station, the truck is washed, the ambulance is stocked with equipment, and instead of watching hours of mindless TV, I would stick my nose in a book, or take notes," he said. "There are a number of great authors out there; I'm reading through these books and they cite specific locations, and I'm like, 'I know that corner, I can picture it in my head.' And there's no visual reference in any of those books, and I'm a visual person."

To make up for that missing visual element, McCarthy decided to use his spare time to create historical maps of the areas he was most familiar with. He began with Boston's South End, where he was working in 2007.

He has since devised a goal for himself to create historical maps of all of Boston's neighborhoods; a project that will comprise about 40 maps when finished. One portion of the project even includes eight versions of downtown Boston, each with highlights from different portions of each century from the 1700s to the present.

"If you want to look up a piece of Boston from the late 1800s, early 1900s, you get those one or two blocks at a time," he explained. "You really don't have a good picture of what the whole area looked like. So, I decided to make my own. All the references were there at my fingertips. It was just a matter of being able to put in the time and the attention to detail."

Each map he creates takes about six months, McCarthy said, and involves extensive research at various historical societies, libraries and other venues where he can get all the information he needs.

"I'm into history and I like old things," he said.

The evidence of that statement is certainly present in McCarthy's basement, which is equipped with flat screen TV, stocked bar, and an adjoining room that gives a nod to old Boston-style pubs.

The walls are painted with a deep red and are lined with pictures of old maps and plaques holding an impressive collection of EMT badges from around the world, all of which surround a 100-year-old pool table.

Adding to the historical flare is a working juke box McCarthy keeps next to his bar.

But the real treasure is in McCarthy's maps, a colorful collection of documents which he prints out at Staples using heavy-duty bond paper and an ink that allegedly will hold for 200 years without fading or running.

In addition to maps of Boston's neighborhoods, McCarthy has created historical maps of Westwood and surrounding towns, like Dedham and Norwood, and is more than eager to work on other towns once he reaches his goal of finishing the state's capitol.

"It's a combination of things," McCarthy said. "I sketch stuff out by hand, and I take existing maps and things like satellite photos and any source I can get, and what I do is composite them all together."

Once he's got the overlay and coloring finished, McCarthy then adds in highlights, scattered across the area of the map, pointing to interesting and significant historical facts and events that took place, all including photos.

From Hobby to Side Job

McCarthy's love for history and subsequent artistic ability to create a map has raised some eyebrows. His initial drawing of the South End caught so much attention from co-workers, nurses, doctors and even fellow customers at Staples who notice him looking at the finished print, that he's begun to offer them for sale.

Currently, his map of historical Westwood, which he composed in 2009, is on sale at local gift shop .

"I was working my way through the city, and I decided to do Westwood out of town loyalty," he said.

McCarthy is working on developing his own website, HistoricalBoston.com, where he can upload his maps for sale.

"I've created this monster and now I really don't know what to do with it," he said, adding that in his creative process, he has dealt with some obstacles, such as copyright issues and how to properly credit his sources like libraries and historical societies. He is currently awaiting advice from an attorney for guidance in that area.

"I would love to give credit for various images," he said. "However, it's a map. Where do you put it? I'm not really sure how to tackle that one."

Still, the reception to his work has given him a fair share of goosebumps.

While working on one map at the Boston Public Library, the curator of the Leventhal Map Center took notice of McCarthy's efforts and expressed interest in acquiring them at some point.

"From a historical standpoint, I'm opening drawers and looking at maps that people drew by hand in the 1700s," he said. "And now I come along in 2011 and I'm drawing these prints that the library wants to add to the permanent collection. What I thought of was, in another 150 to 200 years, somebody's going to come along and open a drawer and see my stuff. It's almost like I'm becoming part of the history  that I'm researching. And that excites the hell out of me."

And while McCarthy is certainly willing to sell his work, profit was never the end goal. The aim was to open people's eyes to something they haven't experienced.

"My goal is to set these things up in such a way that the closer you look, the more you see," he said. "And I"m actively trying to draw you into it. My thought was the average guy isn't going to sit down and read a book on history. But ifhe's got a beer in his hand and he's at a pub and he sees a map on the wall, he might walk over and look at it. And then, I think I've got him. The more the person looks at the map, the more they see."


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