1 10 1 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/32209/archive/files/8944c1bf8faf3f0d4ed1e7a25fa27c1f.pdf?Expires=1781740800&Signature=o5jSIAOuC8KF%7EvO1ioleRNC2vXNnf90i0nxziIyOb88fbdu5I9eBfPXaefgg4SmDM%7E04fwDQvfYPYVSwwfaHC5s40omKgQLU5x4MnDh8zXOGuqTzZQnpYr9Kiw2QA7kk0Ngt2xVMIn0ZKyNR97ZClUNb3GjMltgaggIPN%7EU2HlDXIerPcDWCAHFX6h%7EvJUjVSiHojR6U6b916ky3etux2HyrMq7tTEEIylLOSgUiv1oyYdDC42bpLki8eM64LBlu38Gns0cOC7emOP2c4ngmIi8czVO7sydW6njybGe2HBKeueZpR7jriQ1A5VNP7fmrsZ42LY6Yc52mXsgIGM52fQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 3b1683b8476951ea82da99099520c768 PDF Text Text Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth Postcards from Falmouth Zoom Program Transcript Recorded: September 23, 2020 Presenter: Gus Widmayer Host: Jill Erickson Topic: A Gentleman’s Guide to the Belvidere Plain in Falmouth, Massachusetts & The Belvidere Plain Revisited, by Gus Widmayer  Available in the Falmouth Public Library Reference Department REF LocHist 974.492 WID  Also mentioned: How to Read a Book, by Mortimer J. Adler, available from CLAMS under 801.9 ADL Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital Commonwealth online collection. 00:30 [Music] 00:45 good morning I think it's appropriate 00:49 on the sesquicentennial 150th 00:53 anniversary of the postcard 00:55 that we also acknowledge that it's the 00:59 sesquicentennial of Belvidere Plain #belvidereplain Hunt_Village_Har_114 01:03 a real estate development from 1870 #1870 01:08 I believe it was completed around 1872. #1872 01:12 so I want to draw your attention to uh 01:15 where it is located 01:17 on the shores of Vineyard Sound 01:20 nestled in between the beach 01:24 and what's known as what was known then 01:27 as Deacon's Pond #vineyardsound #deaconspond Gunning_Village_Har_0190 1 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 01:28 we now know it today as Falmouth Harbor #falmouthharbor Hunt_Village_Har_103 through 120 Gunning_Heights_Har_1320 through 1334 01:32 and you can see a lot of little postage 01:35 stamp sized 01:36 lots that were 01:40 planned out and really most of them 01:42 never 01:43 um wound up that way because 01:47 when people came in to buy properties 01:49 they bought several 01:51 at a clip so 01:54 my focus today is on the postcards 01:58 that depict uh various scenes from 02:00 around Belvidere Plain 02:03 and there are about 20 and 02:06 I’ve added a few photographs and I’ll 02:10 even 02:11 finish off with a plug for my book 02:15 which hopefully 02:18 Jill Erickson and Kim DeWall can make 02:21 available 02:22 to you from the Falmouth Public Library 02:26 so let's go to the first slide 02:31 most people recognize this house 2 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 02:35 it was owned by 02:39 a family named Butler around the turn of 02:42 the century 02:46 fairly prominent on the point it sits 02:49 today just behind the Falmouth Yacht #butler #falmouthyachtclub Gunning_Village_Bldg_0385 02:51 Club 02:53 uh had a beautiful expansive lawn 02:56 right on the harbor overlooking the 02:58 ocean 02:59 a nice tennis court and I 03:02 found this picture in an old antiques 03:06 uh market in the Fenway section of 03:08 Boston 03:10 probably in the 1990s 03:13 and it hit my eye I recognized it right 03:15 away 03:17 but most importantly for me uh right 03:20 over here 03:21 on the right hand side um was an early 03:25 photograph 03:26 of Belvidere Plain which is on the west 03:30 side of the harbor 03:32 so I grabbed the picture and I expanded 03:35 this section 03:39 to what you see here and for those of 3 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 03:42 you familiar with the harbor 03:44 you'll recognize the home here that 03:48 once belonged to Bill Wyman 03:51 and his family for 03:54 probably 75 years 03:59 and you'll be able to see by the time 04:02 we're done 04:05 various homes that are no longer 04:08 no longer there 04:12 particularly these two what we call 04:15 beetle houses 04:17 which I’ll point out a little later 04:21 um this photograph 04:24 is about circa 19 04:29 20 I I would say 04:36 this photograph uh which I acquired 04:40 on eBay from an auction 04:44 in my mind is the oldest 04:48 known photograph of the Belvidere Plain 04:52 I don't want to say absolutely 04:55 positively 04:56 because 05:01 I don't have proof so I’ll leave that to 05:06 a younger generation to figure out for 05:08 me but 05:10 the back side of this stereo card does #wyman 4 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 05:13 say Falmouth Harbor and 05:17 these this is a 05:20 windmill that drew water from the ocean 05:27 onto flats where it dried 05:31 in the 19th century 05:34 for salt and uh 05:38 this hill here um 05:42 I believe to be Falmouth Heights it 05:44 doesn't look that tall 05:46 but you know perspective is very 05:49 um a very tricky thing in the 1870s 05:53 1880s um 05:56 I believe we can also date it from this 06:00 man's hat 06:01 this man's hat so uh in time 06:06 one of you might be able to 06:10 research this to nail down 06:14 a date and these 06:18 two structures here might also 06:22 help us but um 06:25 I’m keeping my fingers crossed the 06:28 oldest 06:29 beach photo Belvidere Plain 06:35 now I’d like to tell you about a book 06:37 that I acquired from 06:39 my father's second cousin Rita Keckeisen #falmouthheights 5 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 06:44 she was a librarian 06:47 in the Butler Library at Columbia 06:50 College 06:51 in New York City and when she passed 06:54 away 06:55 in 2003 06:58 her family distributed her possessions 07:01 and then asked me if I’d like to go in 07:05 to see if there was anything that I 07:07 wanted 07:08 because Rita and I had been 07:11 a 30-year correspondent uh 07:16 had been correspondents for 30 years she 07:18 more or less was my mentor 07:20 she taught me everything uh I needed to 07:23 know to be a good 07:25 uh thorough genealogist my hobby has 07:28 been 07:29 uh family tree research uh practically 07:32 all of my life 07:34 and uh it really inspired my 07:37 um interest in the history of Belvidere 07:40 Plain 07:42 so Mortimer J. Adler he 07:46 is um a well-known editor 07:49 in New York circles back in the day #mortimeradler 6 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 07:52 and it struck me as very odd that he 07:56 wrote a book 07:58 entitled How to Read a Book 08:01 and uh I’d never seen anything like that 08:04 before so I read it 08:06 cover to cover and I’ll give you the uh 08:09 I’ll give you the cliff notes he 08:11 essentially 08:13 is um asking 08:16 us as as the readers to 08:20 imbibe every aspect 08:24 of every book that we read don't just 08:26 open it and start reading page one 08:29 start at the fly leaf on the cover 08:32 start uh with the um 08:36 publisher page publishing page 08:39 read every line in the table of contents 08:44 he really wants us to treat every book 08:46 like a fine bottle of wine 08:49 savor every sip and so 08:54 I thought that was appropriate for this 08:56 morning's talk because 08:58 the same uh rules can apply to postcards 09:03 we need to not just see them for 09:06 a picture or a quick note but 09:10 there's a lot more there's a lot more 7 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 09:12 behind it 09:14 and we can start with 09:18 postage stamps now 09:21 if a postcard is 150 years 09:25 old then 09:28 the first stamp that was designed for a 09:31 postcard 09:32 the one penny stamp in 1926 09:37 means that an awful lot of postcards got 09:40 shipped um before and after 09:45 for a penny and in fact it wasn't until 09:47 1952 09:49 that the rate went up so 09:53 if you see a postcard with a one penny 09:55 stamp on it 09:57 it's not going to be too too helpful 10:00 because 10:00 there's um there's a 75 10:05 year period there where where they 10:09 posted for one cents you get 10:12 luckier from 1952 on because 10:16 postal rates seemed to outpace inflation 10:21 and they kept going up and 10:24 in fact if you see for example 10:27 a postcard with seven 10:30 cents on the stamp you can actually #1926 #1952 8 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 10:36 tell yourself you can actually date that 10:39 postcard to 10:40 three months in 1975. 10:44 so as you see the dating methodology 10:48 becomes much clearer 10:51 the later you get now at some point and 10:54 I don't know when this was 10:56 but probably in the 2000s 11:00 um these became these stamps became 11:04 forever stamps 11:05 so I don't know if 2006 11:09 is um applies but if you see a postcard 11:13 with a forever stamp 11:14 that's 24 cents it could have been 11:17 posted last week 11:19 I mean they last forever 11:22 um here's an example of 11:26 an early I think 1902 11:30 one cent Franklin stamp so you'll see a 11:33 lot of these 11:34 on postcards I think Lady Liberty is on 11:38 one 11:40 in 1952 it went to two cents 11:44 but uh this is an early two cent stamp 11:47 from 1902 11:49 which you would not have seen on a 9 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 11:51 postcard 11:55 so going by Mortimer J. Adler’s 11:59 methodology what are all the ways that 12:02 we can 12:03 um partake of postcards 12:07 we know there's a picture on the front 12:09 side 12:11 if we're lucky we see a really beautiful 12:17 post mark on the back here's Falmouth 12:20 Mass 12:20 July 28th 1pm 12:24 1943. uh 12:27 you can't get any better than that um 12:31 another thing you can determine from a 12:33 postcard oh and by the way 12:34 see the one Lady Liberty stamp here 12:38 um obviously we've got until 1952 before 12:42 that goes up 12:43 to two cents published by E.D. West 12:46 Company 12:47 South Yarmouth Mass you can actually go 12:51 on eBay or you know your favorite flea 12:54 market 12:55 and collect postcards 12:58 that were published by E.D. West 13:01 there are a number of different 10 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 13:03 companies you can collect all of them 13:05 and they oftentimes will 13:08 number them so you can 13:11 collect them in sequence once in a while 13:15 you can also 13:16 identify the photographer 13:19 that's a little bit tricky you sort of 13:21 have to 13:22 find his body of work first and then 13:26 tie it in to a postcard 13:30 the other things that postcards tell you 13:33 are 13:34 the sender and 13:37 the recipient those are sometimes 13:42 fascinating and this particular one 13:46 tells you that is that the vacationer 13:50 stayed at the Catalpa Cottage on Shore #shorestreet Gunning_Village_Sts_0080 through 0084 Hunt_Village_Sts_171 & 172 13:52 Street 13:53 in Falmouth um in July of 1943 13:59 so uh if you happen to 14:02 live at that address you might 14:05 know Cokie and 14:08 Mrs. Carl Gulchmark 11 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 14:12 Riverside Drive New York City 14:16 so as you can 14:20 see there are many many interesting 14:22 aspects 14:23 to a postcard 14:28 this is the earliest postcard 14:31 in my collection um 14:36 I date it to 1905. 14:39 it shows Belvidere Plain in the 14:41 foreground 14:42 these um these 14:46 beetle shaped roof lines 14:50 they were probably practical to 14:54 have wind off the beach go right over 14:57 the house 15:00 though not very successful because 15:03 in 1938 these two 15:06 were knocked off their foundation by the 15:10 hurricane 15:10 this one still stands at the tail end of 15:13 Spinnaker Lane 15:16 one thing you'll notice about early 15:17 postcards 1900 maybe to 1910 15:22 is that the um the pictures 15:26 do not extend to the boundary of the Variant from the Hunt collection: Hunt_Village_Har_113 #1938 #hurricane #spinnakerlane 12 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 15:29 paper 15:30 that's a function of the technology they 15:33 once they got very popular they quickly 15:36 learned how to print these 15:40 by bleeding the photograph off the edge 15:43 of the of the 15:44 card 15:48 and this is another trick that you can 15:51 try 15:52 with I use a photo editing software 15:56 called Adobe 15:57 Photoshop and I can take that same 16:00 postcard 16:02 get rid of the arrow where the sender 16:05 was staying 16:06 get rid of an ink mark 16:10 clean it up brighten it up and 16:15 make it presentable for and in my case 16:18 for the book that I was 16:20 publishing 16:23 you need a good scanner and you need a 16:24 good software program 16:26 I highly recommend Adobe products 16:31 here is a postcard taken from the Old #oldstonedock Variant from the Gunning collection: Gunning_Village_Har_0180 13 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth Other postcards of this site: Gunning_Village_Har_0173 through 0188 Hunt_Village_Bch_0089 through 0095 16:34 Stone Dock 16:35 in Falmouth which used to be Falmouth’s 16:37 harbor 16:38 at the end of Shore Street and you see 16:41 the same view 16:42 the um the 16:47 houses here along the beach in Belvidere 16:49 Plain you can see 16:50 Falmouth Heights in the distance 16:54 a couple of young boys running down the 16:57 jetty 16:58 and some sailboats again this would need 17:01 to be heavily cleaned up 17:03 I don't think I used this one in the 17:05 book I used another 17:06 copy that I found that was much cleaner 17:11 oh this must be it 17:14 and what I would do is just brighten it 17:16 up so that when it's printed in the book 17:18 it's um it's uh 17:22 it becomes clearer and 14 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 17:26 black and white versus this is scanned 17:29 in color 17:37 this is a picture of the old harbor 17:41 from the other side and oops and 17:46 there's a nice little um 17:50 note here please send as usual to last 17:53 address 17:53 by Tuesday if possible E.B. 17:58 Salandin he was probably looking for a 18:01 rent 18:02 of his on his summer cottage 18:08 I include this photograph of the 18:11 Heights from around the same time period 18:14 19 18:15 1905 because uh you can see 18:19 from uh perspective from a different 18:23 perspective 18:24 at the end of this long wooden wharf 18:27 the Butler house that was in the first 18:30 photograph that I shared with you 18:33 this is the Tower House Hotel #towerhousehotel Gunning_Heights_Bldg_1207 through 1210, 1217 through 1223 Hunt_Heights_Bldg_244 through 251 18:37 which I think came down in about 19 18:41 50 Jill Jill’ll know better 15 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 18:44 on that excuse me 18:49 excuse me for a minute I had to get a 18:52 drink of water 18:53 so in this photograph you can see 18:56 the windmill 19:00 that was on the old Waterside estate 19:04 and you can also see 19:07 the Weinberg house here so 19:10 that was built in I think 1914 19:14 and it looks pretty new the wood looks 19:16 clean 19:17 so I would date this postcard to 19:22 1914. 19:26 let's take a look at the next one 19:29 it is the mouth of the harbor being #waterside #weinberg Variants from the Hunt & Gunning collections: Hunt_Village_Bch_084, Gunning_Village_Har_0190 & 191 Similar cards: Gunning_Heights_Pnd_1311 & 1312 19:33 dredged by the 19:35 barge Wollaston and 19:38 it was colorized obviously and 19:41 we can also see that by 1910 19:45 the pictures are bleeding 19:48 off the edge of the postcard there's #1910 16 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 19:52 our focal point that always tells us 19:55 where we are 19:56 the Butler house on the uh 20:00 on the end of Falmouth Heights 20:03 this by the way was Clinton Road 20:07 Clinton Avenue used to uh run right 20:10 across 20:11 here and that's essentially what they're 20:13 digging away 20:14 is the spit of land 20:18 across which was Clinton 20:23 this is a really great photograph that 20:26 shows 20:27 in perfect detail 20:30 that activity in 1919 you can see the 20:34 name on the 20:35 barge here the Wollaston and these two 20:39 were dredging the harbor there are a 20:42 number of 20:44 aspects to this photograph that 20:47 helped to date it this is the William 20:50 Wyman 20:51 house on the edge of the harbor 20:54 this is the tower on 20:58 11 Wheeling Avenue which 21:01 came down in #clintonavenue #1919 #wheelingavenue 17 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 21:09 I believe around 1913 21:12 so we know that 21:15 this was taller this used to be taller 21:20 in its day um this house number four 21:24 Wheeling Avenue 21:25 burned to the ground I’d have to look up 21:28 the actual 21:29 year that that happened number one 21:31 Wheeling Avenue 21:34 this is 20 Tim Nye's Cartway 21:38 16 Tim Nye's Cartway those 21:41 are the houses in which I grew up as a 21:43 boy 21:46 and this is the 21:50 back end of 151 Clinton Avenue which 21:54 sits on the 21:54 edge of Tim Nye’s Cartway and this 21:58 is the house on the at the foot of 22:00 Sheridan Avenue 22:01 on Clinton Avenue on the corner of 22:04 Clinton 22:05 and Sheridan and you can see how all of 22:08 this 22:08 land was vacant at that 22:12 time so when the family who lived 22:15 in our family homes #timnyecartway #sheridanavenue 18 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 22:18 was here in 19 22:22 up until 1925 they had 22:26 a beautiful uninterrupted view of the 22:29 harbor this 22:32 house here 22:39 is 22:45 um I can't think of the family's name 22:48 but this is also gone 22:50 and has been replaced by 22:53 a new house if I think of it I’ll 22:56 mention it 22:57 later postcards were 23:00 also made from 23:03 pictures from photographs that you could 23:06 mail into a company and they'll return 23:10 back to you 23:11 a set of 10 or 20. 23:15 this happens to have been a photograph 23:19 taken by a member of the Lowry family 23:22 Mrs. Lowry was Bill Wyman's mother 23:25 and this house front and center is 23:29 43 Harrisburg it's now been moved right 23:32 up to the water 23:34 this is the Tim Nye Cartway house that 23:38 my family moved to in 1967. 23:46 this is number one Wheeling Avenue on 19 #lowry #harrisburgavenue �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 23:50 the corner of Girard #girardavenue 23:52 this is the old Lowry house with the 23:55 tower 23:56 this uh house is number four Wheeling 23:59 Avenue that burned 24:00 to the ground and it's gone you can 24:03 still see some 24:05 you can still see some concrete 24:07 foundation 24:08 markers there unless they've been 24:11 removed recently 24:13 and this is one of the 24:17 uh beetle shaped homes that 24:20 was knocked off its foundation by the 24:24 hurricane in 1938 so that 24:27 is now gone and it's a private private 24:29 community beach 24:32 here are the two homes that were knocked 24:34 off their foundation 24:36 they're both uh they're both gone they 24:39 must have been beautiful 24:41 beautiful homes right on the beach again 24:46 this is a photograph that was turned 24:47 into a postcard 24:49 there are notes and stamps on the back 24:56 this is a similar view probably 20 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 25:00 around 1914 you can see 25:04 some familiar structures these are the 25:06 two 25:08 Wheeling Avenue homes that were 25:11 destroyed 25:12 and this is the Weinberg 25:16 house on Girard Avenue 25:19 um brand spanking new I would say 25:23 the uh the wood looks still looks bright 25:25 and clean 25:27 it hasn't aged so this postcard is very 25:31 likely 25:32 1915 1914 25:36 and uh there's a nice wooden pier here 25:39 that 25:41 that is no longer there 25:45 same view um showing a better 25:49 perspective 25:50 on the houses on the at the end of 25:54 Harrisburg um this is the Drummond house 25:58 now 26:01 this is the Burns house again the homes 26:05 on Wheeling Avenue the two 26:07 I don't know why I want to call them 26:08 eyebrow houses but the two 26:11 beetle beetle houses on Wheeling Avenue 21 #drummond #burns �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 26:15 and the Weinberg home 26:20 it's a beautiful beach my father loved 26:22 this beach 26:24 he used to this is the uh now 26:27 this is now the the neighborhood 26:32 beach where this house used to be and my 26:34 father would sit there and 26:36 say to me where he said to me one day 26:40 how could you believe that God doesn't 26:42 exist when 26:43 he created such beauty as this beach 26:48 he was he was enraptured 26:53 this is a fascinating shot it took me a 26:56 while 26:57 to stare at this photograph 27:00 to understand what exactly I was looking 27:03 at 27:05 but it clearly says Deacon's Pond Harbor 27:08 the fleet at anchor Falmouth Heights 27:11 Mass so here's the harbor um 27:14 it has access to the ocean but 27:17 it doesn't really look like this is 27:20 where 27:20 Falmouth Heights should be and it took 27:24 me Variant from the Hunt collection: Hunt_Heights_Har_314 22 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 27:25 a little while to determine that the 27:27 publisher had reversed the shot 27:30 so when we turn this around 27:34 you will see this makes sense 27:37 here are the two beetle houses on the 27:41 end of Wheeling Avenue 27:42 here is the Wyman house the jetty at the 27:46 end of the harbor 27:47 here's the where the Clam Shack is 27:51 at the tail end of Clinton Avenue 27:55 and um this is the 27:58 house that I’m trying to remember the 28:00 name of 28:02 and it will come to me 28:06 this house I don't recognize but 28:09 uh one of you may or Jill might be able 28:12 to help us out 28:13 a house with two little outbuildings 28:17 a little further down on Scranton 28:21 so I wouldn't be as familiar with it but 28:24 I’m sure 28:26 I’m sure we'll get it identified and in 28:29 in the uh 28:31 in this shot you can see the same house 28:34 with the two out buildings 28:36 somewhere down along Scranton Avenue #scrantonavenue 23 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 28:40 um if you find out 28:44 let me know I’d like to know who that is 28:47 I skipped past this one but I do want to 28:51 point out that this is Waterside 28:54 at the end of Shore Street at the beach 28:58 where you turn that 90 degree turn 29:03 along the public beach there I don't 29:06 quite 29:07 recognize these homes but 29:10 with a little further analysis I’m sure 29:12 we could figure them out 29:15 and this home here is across Hunt_Village_Bldg_068 & 69 Gunning_Village_Bldg_0417 29:19 Shore Street on the other side and it 29:21 belonged at the time 29:23 to an old Navy man named Richard Olney 29:27 there's probably quite a bit written 29:29 about him 29:31 that you can look up at the library 29:35 it's a nice shot colorized obviously 29:43 I love this shot it must have been taken 29:46 right after the harbor was dredged 29:47 because these two jetties look brand new 29:50 they still look like piles of rock 29:52 and uh the beach is still kind of taking 24 #richardolney �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 29:56 the contour 29:57 of where the old spit of land used to be 30:02 this is all fill very clearly all 30:05 fill um 30:08 this house someone 30:12 can identify for us on Falmouth Heights 30:16 I don't recognize it but I’m sure it's 30:18 been gone for a very long time 30:20 and just out of frame here would be the 30:25 Butler house our our point of reference 30:29 on on Falmouth Heights 30:32 oh and it even says new harbor so that's 30:35 a brand spanking new 30:37 photograph 1919 in 1919 30:44 um this 30:47 is a photograph not a postcard but a 30:51 photograph 30:52 that a neighbor sent to me taken from an 30:56 airplane 30:57 you can see Falmouth Harbor 31:02 Clinton Ave Clinton Avenue has been cut 31:05 so this is uh post 19 31:09 19 1920 maybe and you can see Clinton 31:13 Avenue here 31:15 uh this house on what is now Settlers 31:18 Path #settlerspath 25 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 31:20 is brand new so I’m guessing 1920s for 31:25 sure 31:27 and this is the little inlet 31:30 at the mouth of Falmouth Harbor I 31:35 blew it up a little to get a better view 31:38 but obviously the plane was shaking so 31:41 whoever took the photograph 31:42 had to contend with a little vibration 31:48 you can see the columnated building here 31:52 which I forget what that 31:55 was but we'll be able to identify that 32:06 this is Harrisburg this 32:09 is Timothy Nye’s Cartway 32:12 Clinton Avenue this house 32:16 um uh Vivian Center lived in for years 32:20 and years and years and I interviewed 32:22 her 32:22 for my book as I did 32:26 um many of these residents 32:30 and you can see the Butler house right 32:33 here 32:35 and the Tower Hotel 32:39 it's too bad it's really too bad that 32:41 this wasn't clear 32:42 because it's just an amazing old shot 32:44 that you just wouldn't see 26 #viviancenter �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 32:46 otherwise 32:51 this photograph um was taken about 1920 32:55 by Theodore 32:57 Gerloff the father of Miss Anna Gerloff 32:59 who was quite 33:00 elderly when I uh knew her 33:04 in the late 1900s 33:09 but it was probably taken um right after 33:12 this house was built 33:14 on Harrisburg Lane 33:17 you can see the roof line of the 33:21 two beetle-shaped houses that were blown 33:24 down in 1938 33:27 you can see the tower here on the Lowry 33:30 house has been 33:31 brought down in height 33:38 this is one of my favorites again um 33:42 1920 these two big sloops here you can 33:45 see a couple of old 33:48 Model T's that were still hanging around 33:51 and this house which is the big 33:55 yellow mansion that belonged to 33:58 to [Dr. K Leland] for many years 34:03 I believe that went up in 1920 34:09 so #gerloff Variant from the Hunt collection: Hunt_Village_Har_111 Sp. unknown. May be “Kay” for Dr. Katherine Leland. 27 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 34:12 let's see I’ve got my I believe that one 34:16 up in 1920 so we can date 34:20 we can date the postcard 34:23 if it didn't have a postmark on the back 34:26 to about that period 34:36 and this is a similar shot this was one 34:38 where 34:39 um you know I mentioned that all aspects 34:43 of the postcard are 34:44 are fascinating and this one was 34:48 kind of fun because it was from 34:51 one young sailor to a friend back home 34:56 and uh he's he 34:59 says he wrote dear Newbold 35:02 we're having a fine time up here and 35:05 wish you were near us 35:07 will you come to lunch when we get home 35:10 Bayard Kane Fox posted 1935 35:16 and addressed to Master 35:20 Newbold Black 35:23 two school school chums keeping in touch 35:26 with one another 35:32 and um I wanted to show this 35:36 circa 1952 aerial shot 35:39 of Falmouth Harbor 35:43 this is the Butler house this is the 28 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 35:47 Yacht Club the Tides Motel #tidesmotel 35:50 Belvidere Plain pretty much encompasses 35:54 this entire 35:55 flat land uh 35:58 and you can see even even by 1952 36:02 standards 36:03 quite a lot was not yet developed 36:05 there's a lot 36:06 of open land and in 36:10 in the early days in the 1800s 36:14 people would buy lots along 36:17 Clinton Avenue that stretched in long 36:20 rectangles 36:21 all the way back to Main Street so a lot 36:24 of these lots if you follow their 36:26 history they go back 36:29 from Clinton Avenue to 36:33 Main Street and the Belvidere Plain 36:38 as we saw from the early development map 36:41 probably stopped at King at #kingstreet 36:45 Queen Street and everything #queenstreet 36:48 beyond would fall under the 36:52 classification of Falmouth Center 36:58 this is a closer view you can start to 37:00 see some of the houses 37:02 that are familiar in 29 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 37:06 on Belvidere Plain this is the Robertson 37:08 house 37:11 this is the um 37:14 Regatta the Regatta 37:17 Hotel this is the Regatta restaurant 37:24 it's a nice clear shot I’m not sure 37:26 where I got it I probably bought it on 37:27 eBay 37:30 and then that this is a close-up Clinton 37:33 Avenue 37:34 this is Sheridan Avenue 37:38 this is the Wyman house 37:49 and then I wanted to uh just add in this 37:52 um 37:53 later view probably 1950ish 1945 37:57 maybe shows the Butler house um 38:01 the the uh 38:05 oh the old sailor what is this name 38:07 begins with the letter g 38:10 Gallagher Gallagher used to live in this 38:12 house next to the Yacht Club 38:14 and the um 38:18 Tower House Hotel 38:24 so in 2003 38:28 I believe I published 38:32 the stories of the various families #robertson #regatta 30 #gallagher �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 38:35 who lived on Belvidere Plain 38:38 and I included photographs and chapters 38:41 on each of their houses 38:43 and I did research on a lot of the 38:48 titles land titles the deeds that passed 38:53 and put it all together into uh 38:56 into book form published it 39:02 I was very uh very happy to get it 39:05 in print because I had talked to a good 39:09 many neighbors and had scraps of paper 39:13 you know from my various interviews 39:17 with them it really was a fascinating 39:19 hobby I started when I was 39:22 probably 13 or 14 39:26 and I loved just loved hearing 39:29 stories of the history of the 39:32 neighborhood 39:36 oh and I want to show you this postcard 39:38 because the cover of my book 39:40 see these green shutters and red roof 39:43 uh comes from this postcard Variants from the Hunt & Gunning collections: Gunning_Village_Har_0172 Hunt_Village_Bch_079 39:47 so obviously I oh and you know I think 39:51 the back cover 39:52 this extends to the back cover this 31 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 39:54 would be the spine 39:56 and this is the front cover of the book 39:59 this is a 39:59 this is another one of my favorite 40:02 postcards 40:05 um this book is 40:08 out of print there are no there are no 40:11 more copies although you can 40:16 read it at the Falmouth Public Library 40:18 they have they have a copy 40:21 but I I expanded it 40:25 and re-published it 40:29 in 2018 40:33 with this cover 40:36 um no slip cover 40:39 just a hard cover book and called it The 40:43 Belvidere Plain 40:44 Revisited it's approximately 40:48 twice the number of pages 40:51 quite a few more photographs and a 40:53 number of new stories 40:55 from people who um 40:58 who let me know that I forgot about them 41:02 in the first 41:04 in the first printing so we got him in 41:08 to this one and I think that's 32 #thebelvidereplainrevisited �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 41:11 it ah here's the 41:14 author as a young man 1967. 41:20 um when we first when my family first 41:24 arrived 41:26 in Falmouth 41:35 [Music] #1967 33 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Postcards from Falmouth Oral Histories Description An account of the resource A collection of transcribed oral history interviews from the Postcards from Falmouth project, 2020-23. Postcards from Falmouth is a local history project made possible by a Library Services Technology Act grant administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Falmouth Public Library Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Language A language of the resource English Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Falmouth Public Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Transcript of Gus Widmayer's Zoom Presentation on the Belvidere Plain Subject The topic of the resource Belvidere Plain, Falmouth, Mass Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Falmouth Public Library (Falmouth, Mass.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Video transcript Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Postcards from Falmouth Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Falmouth Public Library (Falmouth, Mass.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September 23, 2020 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gus Widmayer Falmouth Public Library 1870 1872 1910 1919 1926 1938 1952 1967 author talk Belvidere Plain Burns Butler (family) Clinton Avenue Deacon's Pond Drummond Falmouth Harbor Falmouth Heights Falmouth Yacht Club Gallagher Gerloff Girard Avenue Gus Widmayer Harrisburg Avenue hurricane King Street Lowry Mortimer Adler Old Stone Dock Postcards from Falmouth Queen Street regatta Richard Olney Robertson Scranton Avenue Settlers Path Sheridan Avenue Shore Street Spinnaker Lane The Belvidere Plain Revisited Tides Motel Tim Nye Cartway Tower House Hotel transcript Vineyard Sound Vivian Center Waterside Weinberg Wheeling Avenue Wyman