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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Orra White Hitchcock (1796-1863) was a gifted artist. Her husband, Edward Hitchcock was a prominent early geologist who specialized in the geologic history and formations of the Connecticut River Valley. Orra drew many of the 232 plates and 1135 woodcut illustrations in her husband's various publications. Her drawings reveal how generations of European settlement and land use had altered the landscape. A prominent lithography company, Pendleton's Lithography, printed many of Orra's drawings, including this one of Mount Sugarloaf in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Although intended as scientific illustrations, some of Orra Hitchcock's prints are more picturesque than topographically accurate. This view of Sugarloaf , for example, exaggerates the mountain's distinctive profile.

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