A modern chart is built for the water. The land behind the shoreline is often a flat tan fill with a few landmarks. The older charts in our catalog were made by people who drew the land too, and that is a big part of why they look so good on a wall.
For Display, Planning or Decoration only – Not for Navigation.
Engraved by the Coast Survey
Our historical charts are printed from scans of real charts in NOAA's Office of Coast Survey Historical Map and Chart Collection. Coast Survey charting goes back to 1807, when Thomas Jefferson founded the Survey of the Coast. We print each one as the original survives, with its marks, tears and stains, on heavy paper, and ship it rolled in a cardboard tube.
The 1852 Preliminary Survey of Humboldt Bay is a good place to start. The title block reads U.S. Coast Survey, A.D. Bache, Superintendent, and credits the hydrographic party under Lieut. James Alden, U.S.N. The lettering moves between engraved capitals and a fine italic hand, and along the bottom is a drawing of the Red Bluff entrance to the bay as it looked from offshore so a navigator could recognize the entrance from the sea.
The 1881 Shelter Cove chart shows the hills above the cove in hachures, thousands of short engraved strokes that follow the slope, with spot heights of 520 and 1,050 feet. On the 1874 Trinidad Harbor chart you can make out the street grid of the town of Trinidad, the dark shaded headland, and rocks off the point marked "awash at low water." The 1894 Humboldt Bay chart has Arcata at the head of the bay, with the marsh and its sloughs drawn in brown against the yellowed paper.
Some are maps more than harbor charts. The 1841 Oregon Territory map shows the territory as the Coast Survey's sources knew it that year, and the 1851 Gold Region in California traces the rivers and mountain ranges of the gold country in fine engraved line. Humboldt Bay comes in 1852, 1894, 1916 and 1921 editions, so you can hang two side by side and watch the bay, the towns and the channels change over seventy years. Sizes run from 21 by 26 inches up to 36 by 50 inches for Cape Mendocino to Point St. George, 1891, and we can print other sizes on request.
The last NOAA paper charts
The numbered NOAA charts most boaters grew up with are now historical too. NOAA finished retiring its traditional paper charts on December 5, 2024. We still print each chart's final NOAA edition. Chart 18649, Entrance to San Francisco Bay, for example, is Edition 68 from June 2013 at 1:40,000, with Point Bonita, the Golden Gate Bridge and Oakland inside its coverage. Next to a new NOAA Custom Chart of the same water, the old charts show far more on land: streets, buildings, piers and landmarks that the new charts leave out. These final editions are for display, planning or decoration only – not for navigation.
The antique finish
Our NOAA charts can be ordered with an antiqued finish, both the final historical editions and the up-to-date custom versions. It gives the chart the look of a well-used one, with the warm sepia patina of old parchment, so a bright modern chart sits easily in a living room, a study or an office. We print it on heavy paper with an extra border for framing, and it ships rolled, never folded. Antiqued charts are printed with a 36 inch short side, and the long side depends on the chart, so wait until it arrives before you order a frame. Antiqued charts, including up-to-date custom versions with the antique finish, are for display, planning or decoration only – not for navigation. That size makes a real statement on a wall. For an even bigger chart without the antique finish, the Large Format paper option prints with a 42 inch short side.
You will find the engraved Coast Survey charts and the decorative charts together in our decorative NOAA charts collection, and the Humboldt charts in Humboldt County and the Redwoods. To see every material and size, including the antiqued finish, read about our print-on-demand charts.