Hello all, I'm not sure if this question is appropriate, but I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a map of the Ohio River Valley that an explorer might have used in the 1790s. I want to get a feel for what landmarks, towns, and natural formations were used to navigate at the time. Thank you!
Here's a Virginia map of 1796, from the Library of Virginia site:
https://www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/voorhees/colony/49-andrews.htm
That gives you the east bank of the Ohio. For the west bank, MapGeeks has one of 1804:
Not sure if an explorer would be using one of these, of course. For that you might find this site useful, with John Filson's and John Fitch's maps of the northwest territory,
http://www.americanmapmaking.com/expansion.php
Fitch and Filson were part of the early wave of land speculators and developers swarming over the new western territories after the end of the Revolution, and so making note of landmarks, etc. Fitch very much hoped to profit from selling his map to other land speculators.
Here is a 1795 map of Kentucky. That's the oldest I have found. There are certainly some that exist somewhere, but are likely not digitized. Since KY only became a state in 1792, maps far enough west to include the Cave-In Rock area just aren't readily available, although this map shows "Great Cave" where its located. Most of my ancestors moving into Trigg and Caldwell County arrived around 1810 at the earliest, so late 1700s maps of western Kentucky, as you can see here, are missing a lot of features.