Sunday, February 8, 2009

A Sunday Drive,...

This photo is dated 1931, Lake George on the back. Pictured are my mother on the right, my grandfather in the middle and my mother's school friend on the left. A Sunday drive at that time in history meant getting dressed up in your finery! Perhaps a dinner out in a restaurant.





Here are my grandparents and my mother's friend Anne. At the same location in Lake George, NY.

A few years pass and by the mid-1930s my father, (on the left), was now part of the Sunday outings. This was taken at Ausable Chasm, a tourist attraction in a nearby town. Everyone is still dressed up and looking very formal.



By the early 1940s my grandfather had passed away, my mother and father were married, and with friends, would still go on Sunday drives, but in a much more relaxed setting. Note the picnic basket and gallon thermos jug in foreground. My grandmother was often invited along on the picnics. Clothing was more informal. But my father was still wearing his hat. That hat hangs on a peg at our camp and my son, his grandson, always wears it when he goes out fishing. I still have that picnic basket!

They would find a back road, pull off for a picnic, and the men would read the Sunday paper while the women would spread the blanket and set out the picnic lunch.


Families and friends enjoying time together, a simpler time. Long before the shopping mall, video games or the internet. Perhaps even a better time?






19 comments:

Phill said...

What wonderful pictures! It would be really neat to take pics of the current generation(s) in exactly the same spot(s), so they could be passed down along with these. The light in that last pic is awesome - the trees behind the car and in the distance look like a painting.

I thought maybe that might be the Route 9 bridge at the chasm, but I can't figure that building in the background. Maybe not.

Cedar ... said...

CM, I believe that there was a larger building there at the Chasm in years gone by. The ones of the picnic by the car was in Tahawus, NY.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh how neat!!!! Taking a Sunday drive!! My inlaws (first marriage) always took a Sunday drive ---usually on some back roads. It was so much fun when they took us with them. But--we certainly didn't dress up for this drive!!!

Glad you have all of those neat pictures. Hope you have had a great day--and got to take a Sunday drive on a beautiful day yourself.

Hugs,
Betsy

Anonymous said...

I love those photos! Your grandparents in the first photo look almost exactly like pictures I've seen of my parents, including the polka dot dress! My Dad always wore a hat exactly like that one too.

Great memories!

Shelley said...

Loved looking at these photos! The clothes are great! And it does seem like nicer times with a focus on spending time together.

diana said...

Neat to see the changes from formal to more casual clothes; my family Sunday drives were to Yosemite, dress up was a new white cowboy shirt for the men, but the women were in dresses.

Aleta said...

I've been here! We visited Lake George four years ago when we went up to visit his brother. It was pretty tourist-trappy, with an amusement park too. But it was a beautiful area. What I remember most is stopping at a basket store on the way up! These pics are awesome. You could write memories or short stories just from one of these pictures. You have a lot of details you could work with.

I really do believe that the olden times were better. I believe at heart we all yearn for the simpler way of life.

Phill said...

Thanks, Cedar. Interesting that there must have been a big hotel or something there then. I loved that basket store too!! Basketville in Queenbury! Alas, it's gone.

NCmountainwoman said...

I LOVED this post. My husband has similar pictures of Sunday picnics, although even on a picnic the folks were dressed rather formally. Perhaps they left after church servcices?

We have such fun trying to figure out exactly where they were and visit those places ourselves.

Jean said...

These are wonderful old pictures! I love all the hats and fancy clothes. Great post! Jean

Laurie and Chris said...

Great post. How neat it is to see what some of the places we have been to looked like back then.

EcoRover said...

Though it seems a long way from the Northern Rockies, I still have friends in & think warmly of the Adirondacks. Thanks for the nice historical pics!

troutbirder said...

Enjoyable and inspiring. I even dug out my childhood album which contains many similar type pictures from the 30's and 40's.

Andrea said...

These old photos are wonderful!! So rich! :) Excellent post. :)

Denise said...

I love old photograph's. You are right, I don't think that I've ever seen old pic's where people aren't dressed nicely to ride in the car.

Anonymous said...

You have a very nice blog - and the header photo is beautiful!

Tammie Lee said...

Oh these photos are wonderful. They give such a strong feeling of the era. I am sure they mean more to you. Wonderful to see.

The Silver Age Sara said...

What beautiful family photos from a wonderful time. I do think life was much simpler when we didn't have our modern day distractions and family was our main focus.

Thank you so much for sharing them with us.

Thistlebrooms said...

It was SO wonderful to reminisce with you on your journey back in time with your parents...I went & got my Mom & Dad's photo albums out from the 20's 30's & 40's again...Sust delight and sadness it brings me at the same time, but pleasure to beable to have them...Thank You for sharing part of your life...
Best...Marilyn