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Weekly News October 17, 2011Description
Summer Vacations in the Mountains vs. the Seashore: In the late 19th century, affluent city dwellers, especially the women and children of such families, looked forward to getting away to the country, where the air was cleaner and usually cooler. If mountains were within a four-hour train trip, the growing resorts there, some having started as springs and spas, were especially popular. In Virginia and the Carolinas, it was the Blue Ridge, with Asheville, White Sulfur Springs and Hot Springs topping the list with their large resort hotels. In Philadelphia and New York, it was the Poconos, the Catskills, and the Adirondacks. In those days, however, no mountain resorts in the East rivaled those in the Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, not only for Boston and New England people but for many from much greater distances. Great mountain hotels, led by the Mount Washington at Bretton Woods and the Mountain View House at Whitefield, both in New Hampshire, and the Equinox at Manchester, Vermont, come to mind (all three have been restored and are presently operating, to my knowledge). Special trains took happy vacationers to the station nearest their destination and were met by horse-drawn jitneys for the final distance to the hotel (in the early 20th century, many resorts used Stanley Mountain Wagons for this purpose).
By 1900, vacationers in large numbers were realizing the benefits of the Atlantic shore, with coastal sea breezes providing a welcome relief from the cities’ heat. The South Jersey shore was a haven for many Philadelphia residents. F. E. Stanley and his family were good examples, as were my parents a generation later. The Stanleys, very familiar with the White Mountains and its benefits, bought a portion of Squirrel Island, just off the Maine coast near Boothbay Harbor. In the 20th century’s first decade, they built a large “summer cottage,” where Augusta and the children spent about ten weeks each summer. F. E. did much to improve the island’s utilities and traveled back and forth from his office at the Stanley factory several times each season. He would make the trip over the road in record time, pushing his new Stanley for all it was worth. Making the trip at the end of July 1918, he was killed in his 1917 Model 730 when he swerved into a ditch to prevent a collision with a farm wagon.
Elizabeth C. “Lizzie” Marshall liked both the shore and the mountains. Before and after Israel’s death in 1911, she would often ship a trunk to Atlantic City or to Galen Hall, a hotel and cottage community located near Wernersville, ten miles west of Reading, Pennsylvania. I’m sure she never experimented with a bathing suit. During my first summer in 1924, Lizzie had rented a cottage at Galen Hall, and my mother and I spent about two weeks with her there, although my recollection of that summer is poor. By 1925, my parents were renting cottages on Maryland Avenue in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on the Atlantic Ocean 100 miles from Auburn Heights, and in 1927, they built “Number One Queen Street” in Rehoboth, which was in the family until 1983.
Work Nights: Bob Jordan is moving ahead on the Model 607, obtaining needed fasteners, painting the pump box, lower dash, firewall, and the boiler holder, and assembling a number of things that got lost temporarily. The steering gear box is in place. The sheet metal work for the firewall is nearing completion. Now the tires can be mounted and the rear axle assembled. Bob's main mechanics in this work are Art Wallace, Ted Kamen, Dave Leon, Butch Cannard, Bob Stransky, Mark Russell, and Dennis Dragon. On Tuesday night, Jerry Lucas fired up the Model 725 with help from Richard Zabriskie and a tube let go at 400 pounds, so the boiler will have to be investigated further to see if it is salvageable. The Model 71 had its superheater-throttle connection repaired, the oil pump adjusted, and the burner re-installed before its successful run on October 15. Jerry Lucas and Jeff Pollock lapped the second valve seat on the new H-5 cylinder block, and it is now ready to have valves installed and lapped in. Jerry Novak worked on both Packards and used the 1937 sedan on October 15. Dan Citron, Butch Cannard, Bill Schwoebel, Jerry Lucas and Steve Bryce made final preparation of the cars that were used for the donor appreciation event on Sunday. Six steamers and the Packard made the round trip to Primitive Hall, and we were joined by Bob Crane of Toms River, New Jersey, his son Ed, and their best friend in Bob's Model 725.
