Maps of Burden Valley in Z for Zachariah

Ch1, p.2: Claypole Ridge is 15 miles away from Burden Valley, and Ogdentown is about 10 miles further north.

Ch1, p.3-4: On the other side of Claypole Ridge, there is an intersection where the east-west highway (the Dean Town Road) crosses County Road 793 (the road running through Burden Valley).  Based on this information, the valley appears to run north-south, with Burden Hill at the north end.

After the war, Ann's father, her brother Joseph, and her cousin David drove north to Ogdentown on their first trip out of the valley, and they returned to report that there were dead bodies everywhere in the town. 

When they went on the fatal second trip the next day, Ann's mother went with them and they were also joined by Mr. and Mrs. Klein in a second car.  On the second trip, they went south (Ch1, p.7) through a gap in the surrounding hills, planning to pass through Amish farmlands south of the valley and then circle west to the Dean Town Highway and Dean Town (a city of about 20,000 people, "much bigger than Ogdentown").

Ch2, p.11: Burden Creek (a dead stream) flows through a cleft in the ridge to the left of Burden Hill, so it is west of the road.  "It flows more or less parallel to the road, and out of the valley through the gap at the south" (16).

Ch2, p.11: The road is about four miles long from the top of Burden Hill to the entrance of the Gap, and Ann's house is almost a mile from the hilltop  (Ch3, p.14).

Ch21, p.199: Turning right from Ann's house leads to Burden Hill, and Burden Creek is across the road. The house, pond, and cave are east of the road.

Ch8, p.83: About 100 ft upstream from the house is a small waterfall where Loomis plans to make a dam to generate electricity. Ann's grandfather had a flour mill there.

Ch9, p.94: The barn must be behind the house to the east, with the pasture, far field and pond to the south: "As you head back from the house to the barn, the pasture, the far field, the pond and the brook all lie on your right.  To the left are a few fruit trees and then, farther left, another small field of about an acre and a half."

Ch3, p.28: The barn seems a little south of the house, in a position that blocks the view of the pond and far field. As Loomis walks south, Ann says, "He saw the cows right away, as soon as he got past the barn and the fence.  They were off by the pond, in the far field" (28). A fence around the pasture also seems to block the view.

Ch15, p.151: Loomis suggests putting a chair on the back porch so he can see Ann planting crops in the small field or the back garden. 

Ch2, p.11, 16-17: Ann's cave is "halfway up the hillside behind the house" (11).  A clean brook runs by about 50 feet away (11). The water comes from a deep spring up the hill (17), flows towards the house, turns left into the pasture and widens into a small lake (16). The cave and spring must be southeast of the house. 

Ch2, p.17; Ch21, p.202: The stream enters the pond at the "far end" (17). On the far side of the stream, there are woods where Ann hides when she runs to the cave for her pail and knife (202).  There may also be trees north of the pond, since Ann cannot be seen there from the house (202). Ann can run from the pond to the cave and back in just 5 minutes (202).  If she runs 6 mph, a return journey might be about half a mile, so the cave is about a quarter of a mile from the pond. 

Ch8, p.85: The pond is "more than a quarter of a mile" from the house down the road.  One side must be near the road, for Ann and Loomis take the road there (86).  Also, it is "in the same general direction as the store" (Ch22, p.212). 

Ch25, p.239: The pond's shape is probably circular, since Ann describes it one night as "round and clear as a mirror." Ann's reference to its "far end," where the stream enters (17), could suggest the lake is slightly oval. Since the stream must enter from the east and exit on the south side, "far end" probably means the end farthest from the road, not the house. The stream could not both enter and exit at the south end. Ann is used to approaching the lake from the road, as when they go fishing (86), so it makes sense for her to think of the east side as the far end.

Ch8, p.78-80: When Ann picks field cress in the field south of the pond, she is drawn to a sweet-smelling crab-apple tree in bloom (marked pink on the map) at the edge of the woods 20 feet away.  Beside it, she makes plans to marry Loomis the following June.  This tree and her plowing of the corn field both become connected in Ann's thoughts with her hopes of marrying Loomis, having children, and together helping humanity survive.  While plowing, she recites her favorite sonnet from Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Epitaph for the Race of Man," and thinks, "I was the one, or one of the two, who might keep it [Earth] from dying, for a while at least" (Ch 9, p.96). She wants to tell Loomis about her thoughts at the tree and while plowing, then decides not to when his radiation sickness worsens (Ch 10, p.101).  Then she starts to fear him again, mainly due to his nightmares about killing a coworker named Edward for control of the only existing safe-suit. Later, Ann passes the tree again after she has moved back to the cave and refused to have any relationship with Loomis.  At this point, the apples are "hanging thickly on the branches" (Ch21, p.200).Ch4, p.39: The stream flows out of the pond from the other end, meanders south through a meadow, and finally "bears right" to join Burden Creek.

Ch21, p.200; Ch23, p.220: The store and church cannot be seen from the house (Ch3, p.25). This is due to "a slight bend" in the road (Ch21, p.200). Standing at the bend, one can see the store in the distance (Ch21, p.200). 

Ch3, p.29: Walking south, Loomis reaches the church first and then the store. 

Ch24, p.231: While Ann is gathering berries on the east ridge of the valley, she notices Loomis left the front door of the store open.  She heads down the hill to the place where the brush stops.  The field with the pond stretches to her right.  She then proceeds towards the store by walking along a fence row, which presumably stretches from the woods to the road. The fence may have been for the Kleins' field, since it is near their store.

Ch4, p.39: Continuing south from the store, Loomis comes to a culvert, where the stream from the pond passes under the road and joins Burden Creek.  Here he first realizes there are 2 streams.  It is likely that trees blocked his view of the stream flowing into the pond, so he assumed Burden Creek was its source. 

Ch4, p.40: It is about a 15-minute walk from the culvert to the Gap.  Assuming an average walking speed of 2-3 mph, the distance may be about 1,320 yards or three quarters of a mile.  The road through the gap is only about 200 yards long. 

Ch4, p.38-41: The valley becomes narrower at the southern end. Ann notes that the other side of the valley is "quite close" at the south end (41).

Ch4, p.40: The Gap at the south end is shaped like a large S. Heading south into the Gap, the road and stream turn sharply right, left, and right again. 

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