I was delighted Tuesday to receive a copy of the new edition of The Mapless Map: Guide to the Streets, Structures, & Places of Tompkins County, Complete from the author, Jim Rolfe, who apparently reads this site.
As it promises, the book is mapless, but it has something I've frequently found more useful: a 171-page list of street and place names and descriptions of how to find them. For streets, that's which other streets they connect with, and for places it's an address or a description. Want to know where Lacey Corners is?
LACEY CORNERS (Tn Dryden) That area encompassing the junction of Cortland RD (SR 13), North RD & North ST, nr TC3 entrance.
Hamlets, TC3, Cornell, and Ithaca College buildings, and a variety of other places are covered, making this an amazingly handy reference. Rolfe has been updating this book regularly for the past few years, building on the 1992 work of Robert Eastman.
It covers the whole county in remarkable detail, including private roads. Unless you know your way around already, you may still want to use it in conjunction with a map, but it provides a level of detail you just can't find on maps, even (or some days, especially) on online maps.
There's also emergency contact information, discussion of where to find out more of the history of these roads, a list of mobile home parks, and a list of courts in the county.
I've used and enjoyed the previous edition, which I bought at Mayers in Ithaca, and look forward to using this one as well. I highly recommend this unique little book.
Posted by simon at March 24, 2006 8:26 AM in maps