This may be my favorite interpretive map project in my time at Hedberg Maps. Tod Beaty at Hammond Real Estate, a long-time client of Hedberg Maps, wanted something special to celebrate their 25th anniversary: a walking tour of their stomping grounds, the Harvard Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts, an area I also know well and love.

After walking the area with Tod, I worked up a proposal for three overlapping, themed tours: “Revolutionary Cambridge,” which covers not only the Revolutionary War era, but the social and cultural revolutions that Cambridge has been at the forefront of ever since; “Utterly Harvard Square,” highlighting the unique, often quirky details of this famously eccentric business district; and “Tory Row,” an area of historic homes including pre-Revolutionary mansions, and work of some of America’s great architects—and many of Hammond’s listed properties over the years. Tod worked with a writer to develop the site selections, acquired pictures in consultation with us to illustrate the map, and hired a cover designer. Hedberg Maps worked to pull all these pieces together, adding its own editorial and design ideas as we went. It was a great collaboration.