This map shows the deep history of the the Connecticut River (Kwenitekw in Abenaki) floodplain as it winds its way from the present-day settlement of Sunderland, MA, south to the Holyoke Range.

The delicate, feathery structures bordering the river are evidence of its ancient meanders since the draining of Glacial Lake Hitchcock ~15,700 years ago. The famous Oxbow, immortalized in Thomas Cole's 1836 painting, is shown in the lower left part of the map, and an older oxbow in Hatfield to the north. The meander belts of tributaries such as the Fort, the Mill, and the Manhan rivers can be seen draining into the Connecticut.

I was inspired to make this map after seeing Daniel Coe's work (www.kartopics.com) portraying the Williamette River in Oregon. This cartographic style is used with his permission. This map was made using GIS software and the detailed elevation data derived from LiDAR imagery, collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and MassGIS.

The map is primarily an elevation map: The river is white, with higher elevations at progressively darker shades of blue, with everything 50-60 feet above the surface of the river, above its floodplain, masked out.