Never count out your local library. Oh, sure, it’s the Information Age, and you have more ready access to more information on your phone than any human has ever had access to ever. It boggles the mind.
But libraries have some tricks up their sleeve. The New York Public Library, for instance, rendered a map of Manhattan in 1860 in the cultural phenomenon Minecraft.
We chose to use this 1860 map of the Fort Washington area of Manhattan, near the Hudson River and modern-day 160th Street. There’s something special about this map: it has contour lines, which give us a picture of how far above the waterline each point on the map is. These lines take the map into the third dimension and make it possible for us to translate it into a meaningful Minecraft world.
Back then, there was very little development in this part of Manhattan, at least as far as I can see on the map. Perhaps New Yorkers were reluctant to settle this far North because of all the giant spiders and creepers.