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"See how peaceful it is here. The sea is everything. An immense reservoir of
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nature where I roam at will."
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--Earl Felton
(2)
The shore has long been a place to retreat to on a warm summer day. The cool breezes sailing in on the ocean waves offer relief from the heat. The way people dress for the beach has considerably changed. Many people went to the beach fully clothed with no intentions of swimming in the water. Men and women who did enter the water did so wearing old-fashioned bathing suits best described as tank tops and shorts. A modern-one piece bathing suit would be considered very risqué and a bikini would simply be unthinkable.
Project
Lighthouse Point Beach, New Haven, 1906
by T.S. Bronson (
TWC
, page 48). In the photograph, a group of fully-clothed people are huddled together on the sand. Beach blankets were not in use at this time. Two of the women are holding parasols which provided shade from the summer sun. A man in the background is wearing a suit and top hat. The only one who seems to have any idea he is at the beach is the man cropped off in the lower left corner of the photo. Perhaps that's why all the women are gazing at him. Explain to your students that these people are at Lighthouse Point Beach. Ask them what's unusual about the photograph. When they note that none of the people are wearing bathing suits, tell them that many people who went to the beach did not swim in the water. Some people went just because it was cooler there.
Immediately display
Lighthouse Point Beach, New Haven, c. 1915
by T.S. Bronson (
TWC,
page 47). In this photograph, seven women are heading into the water. They are all wearing bathing suits quite similar to each other. All of the swimsuits are dark. They resemble tank tops and shorts. Many of the women are wearing bathing caps and socks. Tell your students that these women were at the beach to swim. Ask them to describe what the women are wearing. Tell them that people could not wear the bathing suits we wear now. It was necessary for them to wear bathing suits that covered up much more of their bodies.
Finally, show my photograph,
A Day at Lighthouse Point Beach, 2006
. Ask students to describe what they see. In this photograph, three women are sitting in nylon chairs beneath umbrellas. A blanket is spread out in the foreground and a cooler full of food is behind them. To keep themselves occupied they have board games and what looks like a portable DVD player. Have students compare my photo to the previous two photographs. Ask students what has changed over the past 100 years. What are the people wearing? What are they doing? What's similar in the photos?
Take your students on a fieldtrip to Lighthouse Point Beach. Ask them to pay attention to what people are wearing and doing. When you return from the trip, have students write about what they did and what they saw others doing.
