Streams, Rivers, Lakes, Oceans

"Canoodling" plus "canoeing" equals "canoedling" in this early twentieth-century postcard.

A reflections photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. The water captures a reflection of an outdoors scene, with trees, a rustic bridge, a man and his dogs , and a building.

For more information, see the original photo :

Rotated version, with the reflection at the top. For more information, see the original photo :

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of He's (or She's) a Real Nowhere Man (or Woman) - solo individual photographed in open space . "Lovers' Leap and the Narrows, 900 feet above the National Hy., Cumberland , Md. U.S. 40." This is a real photo postcard showing the silhouette of a lone man at the top of the overlook known as Lover's Leap . Below the rock outcropping is the Cumberland Narrows , a water gap through the mountain. Wills Creek , the National Road ( U.S. Route 40 ), and railroad tracks run through the Narrows .

The National Road (U.S. 40), railroad lines, and Wills Creek run through the Cumberland Narrows below the Lover's Leap rock outcropping. This is a detail from a real photo postcard. See Lover's Leap and the Narrows, Cumberland, Maryland .

A man stands on top of Lover's Leap, a rocky outcropping that overlooks the Cumberland Narrows. This is a detail from a real photo postcard. See Lover's Leap and the Narrows, Cumberland, Maryland .

A cars and trucks photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Mr. Sam Ekey, Warren, Pa., R.D. #4, and postmarked in Warren, Pa., on March 31, 1913. Handwritten message: "Warren, Pa., 3/30, 1913. Dear Brother, Wm. Kopf would like to have his posts Saturday. If you need the money take it, 12½¢ each. Frank needs about 10 7 fts. Maybe we can give Henderson his and give Frank Henderson's from last year [meaning, as far as I can understand, that "Henderson" is going to get the fence posts originally intended for "Frank," and Frank is going to receive his ten seven-foot fence posts from among the ones that they prepared for Henderson last year]. Everything OK. Norman has the mumps. He is at home on the farm. E.E." It's likely that "E.E." was Emil Ekey (1886-1976), who was writing to older brother, Sam Ekey (1881-1965). "Frank" may have been Frank A. Ekey (1868-1959), another brother. A quick search didn't yield any information regarding the other individuals--William Kopf, Henderson, and Norman--that Emil mentions. The flooded street was the result of the Great Flood of 1913 , which "occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain." I assume that the photo shows a street in Warren , which is located in northeastern Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Conewango Creek. The license plate on the car in the photo is no. "23801, Penna., 1913," and the man in the driver's seat is looking back at the photographer. Beyond the automobile there are three people--one of them only visible through the vehicle's windshield--wading through the floodwaters. To the left of the threesome is a mailbox stranded by the water, and to its left are two individuals standing in the doorway of a building. A mailman wearing waders and holding a mailbag is standing in the water on the right-hand side of the photo. Perhaps he was headed over to the mailbox to collect the mail. Emil didn't mention the flood in the note he wrote to his brother. I wonder if either of them knew any of the people in the photo. It would also be interesting to know who the photographer was.

A late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century business card printed by David Bachman Landis, who operated Pluck Art Printery , which was later known as Landis Art Print. I haven't uncovered any reference to a "Mill Creek Dairy," but it's possible that "A. H. Herr" was Aaron H. Herr (1880-1940), a farmer who lived in Manor Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A. H. Herr, Mill Creek Dairy. Pure milk and cream. Lancaster P.O., Pa.

The Brook Leaf Love Nest was an oversized tree house built along Kreutz Creek on a farm in Hellam Township, York County, Pennsylvania, in the 1920s. Newlyweds on their honeymoon rented the "love nest," and it was a well-known local attraction until it burned down in the late 1940s after being struck by lightning. Interestingly, The Haines Shoe House, Hellam, Pa. , was another nearby destination for honeymooners. For additional information, see the following York Blog postings: Brook Leaf Love Nest Tree House Known as Hellam Honeymoon Spot and Hellam Tree House Makes the Movie News Reels .

Handwritten message on the back of this real photo postcard: "This was the name of our camp at Cooks Mill where we was the last ten days of August." These seven campers have enough firepower--a couple of shotguns and a rifle--to "raise hell," as their sign suggests, but it's more likely they used their guns and rods for hunting and fishing (I'm not sure why the one woman is holding a tin horn, though). Their camping trip, which took place during August sometime in the 1900s or 1910s, is documented in these three photos (the one above and two more below). The location--Cooks Mill--was a small settlement in rural Bedford County, Pennsylvania, that was described in 1900 as having one store, a grist mill, and ten dwellings.

Handwritten message on the back of this real photo postcard: "This is the table where we had a many good meal those ten days. The lady at the end was a visitor. She brought 1 gal. of ice cream along." The seven Raise 'ell campers and a visitor are seated around the table where they had "a many good meal" during their stay. Perhaps they're eating the ice cream that the woman at right brought with her. Next to her are two milk cans, which were probably used to store water. The stream that's visible In the background is Wills Creek , which is still a popular fly-fishing destination today. Is that a Buster Brown outfit that the boy is wearing in this photo and the previous one ?

Handwritten message on the back of this real photo postcard: "To yous all. This is a view of our tents. Rhoads and two of the clerks came down one night. Hunter." The seven Raise 'ell campers are sitting in front of their tents. What appears to be a quilt or coverlet is visible in the first open tent, and the man seated in front of that tent is still holding the shotgun he posed with in the first photo . Charles R. Rhoads was a pharmacist in the nearby town of Hyndman , Pa., in the 1900s and 1910s. Could he have been the Rhoads who--along with two of the clerks in his pharmacy--visited the camp? And how ironic is it--considering the guns that are visible in the photos and the hunting that presumably took place during the camping trip--that the writer's name is "Hunter"!

A photo of day trippers (people on a day out, groups or individuals) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Real photo postcard caption: "Palisades Hike, Feb. 14, '15. #5. E." Eight individuals appear in this "Palisades Hike" photo taken on February 14, 1915, but I'm not sure exactly what they're doing or which Palisades they're visiting (see a list of possible locations on Wikipedia's Palisades disambiguation page). The woman in the foreground is carrying an American flag, and the two men on the left are apparently moving rocks around (or looking under them?) as a boy standing in the middle of the stream watches. The others in the background seem to be cautiously making their way over some of the large boulders situated along the other side of the stream. Perhaps the "#5" designation means that this is the fifth in a series of photos taken that day by a photographer whose name might be indicated by the circled "E." If so, we may have to wait to see if additional photos turn up in order to learn more about these Palisades hikers and the trip they took on Valentine's Day in 1915.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of waterfalls . Handwritten note on the other side of this real photo postcard: "Von meinem Geburtstagsausflug an die Triberger Wasserfälle, 12. Sept. 1936." (Translation: "From my birthday outing to the Triberg Waterfalls, 12 Sept. 1936.") The names of "Mr. & Mrs. Vogal, Pforzheim, Germany" are written in a different hand where an address would go. There's no stamp or postmark, however, so I wonder if the Vogals are the couple in the photo. As Wikipedia explains, the Triberg Waterfalls "are waterfalls near Triberg in the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). With a descent of 163 m, it is one of the highest waterfalls in Germany and a landmark in the Black Forest region." Search for Triberger Wasserfälle to see other Ipernity photos of the falls. For another souvenir photo from a different waterfall, see Frances and Ned at Leura Falls, New South Wales, Australia, March 15, 1914 .

At least it doesn't say Stop! There's no date or any other identifying info on the photo, unfortunately. Not to be confused with Speed Limit 15 Miles (below).

A fishing photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park topic of knitting, fishing, and kissing (photos of people who are knitting, fishing, or kissing; post examples of all three if you have them.) . "Better Than Haying" is the caption of this real photo postcard by Vermont photographer Edwin T. Houston, who published it in 1906 (take a look at the full version to see Houston's inscription at the bottom of the photo). Just about any activity would be better than "haying," or making hay by hand, which is a laborious chore that usually has to be done on a hot summer day. The farmer in the photo, with his dog by his side, is taking a break from haying by casting his fishing line into the water. The farmer has literally turned his back on his haymaking tools, which are visible on the left-hand side of the photo. We can see the teeth of a rake , the blade of a scythe , and the handle of a third tool, which must be a hay fork with its tines stuck in the ground. So the humorous moral of the story told by this carefully constructed scene is, of course: Fishing is better than haying!

What is it that's "Better Than Haying," as the caption says? For an explanation, see the cropped version of this real photo postcard.