Other blog dominating

Blogger insists on showing my posts and comments to others as my Books Blog, You can click on it to get here and vice versa....the Book blog is just that while this one, my first, original has miscellany

Friday, August 6, 2010

My Unknown Bathing Beauties for Sepia Saturday Week 35 (Click Here)

Our heat wave has ended and I have spent many days at the pool, water aerobics and  swimming laps, always  having been  attracted to the water to cool off.  Others have shared great marvelous photos of the bathing beauties from times past.  I did not think I had any, so proceeded on my way with my other anecdotes.  This week while making some progress through sorting photos, I got to another box from my Grandma Rose and  found two tattered photos marked only by year, without any names to identify the people.    I do not  think they are my grandmother nor her sisters but likely cousins within that extended  Ostrowski clan.  My grandmother  was never a swimmer nor a water person and could not understand my absolute fascination with water, swimming and all such things. 

I recalled my grandmother talking about a ferry boat that used to transport them across the river  between our town of New Kensington and Tarentum on the other side before bridges.  This beach was on the New Kensington side. 
1920 Renouf Beach Allegheny River  New Kensington

The two children in the 1920 photo might be girls too with the get ups on their heads, I suppose it was to protect the hair. To their left there is  someone in the water and there is quite a crowd in the 1920 photo, maybe it was during a big holiday event or weekend. It looks like they are leaning on some type of floating raft.

To me  it appears that there are different folks in each photo.  In the  1917 photo, below  the people are close to the shore, it appears, but look at those dresses; I doubt they would have ventured very far into the water, surely that would hav weighted them down.. . The woman to the right appears to even be wearing some type of stockingn if that is a woman, I think they both are with children.

1917 Allegheny River Renoul Beach


When I was growing up in the 50's and  60's we would not have dreamed of entering the Allegheny river as the industries and mills had polluted the waters and the towns dumped sewage in there as well.  Today there is a total change with the lack of industry and there is even a marina in New Kensington.  Boats abound on the river, quite a different sight.  Someone even told me that they get mussels to eat form the Allegheny, so there has been  an entire about face of cleaning up. 


The only other river picture I have handy is this one of my mother, Helen,  taken in 1942, posed in the wind.  She never was a swimmer so I don't expect this was a bathing photo, more  like just walking along the river .  This is one of my favorites of her.

As always to view others posts in Sepia Saturdays, click on the title to this post, above...

21 comments:

  1. Wonderful photographs. Everyone looks so relaxed and as though they are having such fun. With all that industry next to the river they must have been fearless swimming there - but it seems to have done them no harm.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoyed your bathing beauties..great photo! I can see why the photo of your Mom is a favorite..she is beautiful:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What beautiful pictures. I am a real fan of old bathing photos. they all look like they're having a fabulous time, although I wonder about the water quality then too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These are great fun! I just bought several photos yesterday of people and children in bathing garb. All that heavy wool. Ugh! Would possibly make a nice little book. Nothing but people in various old suits.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love those bathing beauties! I'll have to look through my photos to see if I have any.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Those are some great bathing beauty photos.I love the hats (caps?). I remember bathing caps with petals on them. And how awful our hair looked when we took them off!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What fun to look at old family photos even if they are on other blogs. I enjoyed the stories about your Aunt Fran and enjoyed this post too. Great memories to share.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The picture of your mother is especially wonderful -- a moment in time caught forever.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That was some great photos. It is amazing the way we have come to what people wear now to go in the water. Amazing. Great post.
    QMM

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gotta Love those old time bathing suits. It seems to have been a lot of work just to get dressed to go swimming.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I can see why the photo of your mother would be a favorite! She looks very joyful.

    The other two photos are very fun. I do believe that the ladies are in fact wearing swim clothes (I can't really call them swimsuits, can I?) in the 1917 photos. Other swim photos I've seen from that time period also have the swimmers in clothes we think of as too heavy and cumbersome to wear in the water. Modesty still reigned in the year 1917 -- at least for many folks.

    ReplyDelete
  12. These are great photos! Having done some research for a reenactment project a few years back, I can tell you it is very likely the one lady is wearing tights! The dresses were made in wool at first, and after the turn of the century, cotton. Fortunately by the time these ladies were bathing beauties, the dresses were quite a lot shorter and safer, and many had bloomers underneath. The caps were fairly standard for covering the hair, just as bathing caps were common up until fairly recently for swimming pools.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very interesting information here shared by others; I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that they would have been wearing wool! Ugh! I am surprised anyone went to the water, back then, it had to be a chore....

    Bathing caps, I remember having to wear one as a child and hated them, and how it pulled my hair whenI took it off. I am so glad we have free heads today!

    That photo of my Mom being a favorite too because it is when life was ahead of her and as many said, she looks so happy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yes Everyone looks really relaxed & happy! I wonder,was it fashion or Industry than made folks dress so well in those times?
    What A Great Pose Your Mum took!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love the photo of your mother Helen with the wind swept hair posing on that rock. So very precious. The glamor bathing caps on the beach babies very unique. Great photos to have.

    ReplyDelete
  16. What wonderful photos! They are so full of history seeing all of them enjoying the water in their different ways.. I like the guy at top looking over his shoulder looking at the person taking the photo.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hello Pat
    Lovely sepia images.

    Thank you for stopping by the Back Porch. I had just finished the makeover of the bedroom when I took the photos. The pillows are shams and are removed each night, when our regular bed pillows are used.

    This is the link to the post previous the makeover post.

    http://www.backporchmusings.com/2010/08/summer-sunrise-at-lake.html

    There is an explanation of the shoreline of the Lake of the Ozarks, within the post.
    I am a Missouri native, extremely proud of our state and always encourage visitors to take the roads less traveled. Lots of beauty on those back roads, J and I love to travel.

    ReplyDelete
  18. on this dreary day here in montreal, it is nice to suddenly find myself, sort of, at the beach. thnax 4 sharing these beauties with us.
    :)~
    HUGZ

    ReplyDelete
  19. What interesting photos showing the different styles of swimming costumes for the different times periods. I often wonder what these people would think if they visited our beaches and river snow. The photo of your mother is beautiful. I enjoyed reading your post.
    Thank you so much for visiting my blog and your lovely comments.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wonderful photos. Amazing to think about how much swimming attire has changed through the years. (I need one of those long, full suits to hide the body). Aren't those swimming caps fun? Your mother looks so cute in that photo. laurie

    ReplyDelete