Figure 1.--This postcard-back photograph was taken about 1910, probably somewhere in the northeast. We are not sure what they are standing around. Itt looks rather like a bathing machine. We thought that was mpre of a Victorian phenomenon.

Until the 20th century, sea-side jaunts were mostly available to the population of the northeastern cities located close to the coast. Places like Coney Island dominated the American idea about seaside vacations. New York was very important in american culture at the time. The population of California, Florida, and the Gulf coast were still relativelt small. The idea of a vaction became more and more popular and as incomes rose more and more Americans were taking vacations. The American summer camp movement was growing. And no camp worth its salt was a camp without a lake for swimming and boating. A whole new factor came into existance in 1909--the Model T Ford. The Model-T, an automobile workers could afford, provided unprecented mobility, although it would be a few years before the automobile would become a factor in American vacations, but a major factor it would become. At first it was the railways that were the major factor. Seaside vacations aof course was only one of the optioins, but they were a popular one and growing in importance. President William Howward Taft proposed in 1910 that every American worker needed two to three months of vacation a year “in order to continue his work next year with the energy and effectiveness that it ought to have.” (1910) The idea had more force in Europe at first, but gradually employers began to accept the idea. After World War I, beaches in Florida, the Gulf Coast, and southern California began to attracht more and more people. The idea expanded during the Depression and unions began to demad vacation time. The idea was firmly established with post-War prosperity (1950s). And the family car became the primary mode of transport. The spread of air conditioning made trips south much more enjoyable. And more than any single destination -- it was the beach where they headed. This has continued to be the case, although with the advent of cheap air fares, many families headed off the more exotic climes. Even so this oftem meant each resorts in the caribbean or Mexico.

Sources

Corbin, Alain. The Lure of the Sea: The Discovery of the Seaside in the Western World, 1750-1840

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Created: 4:29 AM 6/19/2019
Last updated: 4:29 AM 6/19/2019