Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Friday, April 12, 2013

Sepia Saturday - #172 - 13 April 2013

"I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light."
- Helen Keller




Below is our theme photo from Alan this week,
 and is described as
"Palmer's Mystery Hike # 2"
 
 



The first thing that came to mind seeing this enthusiastic group was, who were they smiling for, and if it was taken in July 1932 why were they dressed for cooler weather? 




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This photo also from Mystery Tour # 2 was from Valley Heights in the lower Blue Mountains to Penrith, on the 10th of July, 1932.


Google to the rescue again.  Searching their Palmer mystery tour describes five mystery hikes around Sydney (hence Sydney's wintertime) scheduled in 1932 and were organized by the railroad and F. J. Palmer and Sons Department Store.  Hikers purchased a two-shilling train ticket and joined a train from Central Station to journey to a mystery destination.  They were always on Sunday and were quite popular hikes!

Rambling, they called it and it was popular across the English countryside, and evolved from a more rugged terrain called bushwalking.  More of their hikes can be seen at the Powerhouse Museum Collection from commercial photographer, Thomas Lennon.


Can you imagine, there were 4 trains that carried 2,000 hikers just on this second mystery tour.  They were known to document their adventure in the newly invented Box Brownie!

If you didn't already know, The Box Brownie was a camera.
 



Mystery Hikes weren't the only fun outings, as you'll see in the next two photos!








Oh my goodness, does anyone have a great caption for this group of hikers from Washington?  What an amazing group this is!









For the most part, they are a happy group.
Suffrage hikers.
This photo taken on February 10, 1913.
They hiked from New York City to Washington D. C. to join
the March 3, 1913 National American Woman Suffrage.





Hiking Back In Time




Let's hike into sepia photography,
 since that's what these Sepia Saturday posts are all about. 
 
Especially, since there are times I've looked at a sepia photograph and wondered, was this actually taken back in the day, or more recently?  That's when playing detective is necessary to determine when and even perhaps where it was taken.
 
Even our cell phones today have APPS that immediately transform our weekend family picnic back in time. 
 
 
 
 Of course, often our photos are just old, black and whites and arrive from stepping into the yesterday of our ancestors, or just plain life in general. 


I'll close with a sepia photo that I won't describe when or where it was taken, until next week.  Let's see if anyone can supply any information until then.



Any guess as to when, what or where this photo is? 


For more Sepia Saturday posts go here.


http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2013/04/sepia-saturday-172-13-april-2013.html

26 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

some of the photos won't load for me. but the others are pretty cool. a look back.

21 Wits said...

Tex- Hello, I know this was a hard post to put together, Blogger sometimes is just odd! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

tony said...

Wow Those Lasses in Washington are a Mighty Crew! What A Terrific Photo!A Splendid Post Karen.

Filip and Kristel said...

Good article, we bloggers never walk alone.

Greetings,
Filip

Unknown said...

IT'S STILL FRIDAY!!! (You're messing with me--aren't you?)

Nigel Aspdin (Derby, UK) said...

No 400. You might stand here on a windy day taking photos and chewing gum.

Hope that clue helps!

Mike Brubaker said...

I like the idea that there was an excursion train to a mystery destination. Very Hogwartian. The suffragettes were one of several political groups that resorted to a long walk to make a statement. As to the mystery photo, I think I might have seen those pigeons before, but where and when escapes me.

Steve Gravano said...

I love looking at old photos, great research!

Cloudia said...

what a fun post



ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
~ > < } } ( ° > <3

21 Wits said...

Nigel- you are so right on- hopefully the wind won't blow away their memory!

Lovely's Blot said...

Gosh, the hikers going out on the mystery walk look nervous!

Winter clothes in July? Got to be England!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting the mystery photo in context. What a large group of people went on the mystery hike!

Postcardy said...

It was interesting to learn about the mystery hikes.

Where is the closing photo mystery?

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Great hiking photos, especially like the first, they seem to have so much fun, a jolly crowd. July is winter in Australia, It can be quite cold in the blue mountains where the mystery tour took them. I remember, mystery tours were very popular, later with buses or even with the plane.

sage said...

Thanks, I'm always up for a hike!

JJ said...

My God! Please let those poor women vote!

Boobook said...

I wonder if the women were advised to wear suitable footwear for these mystery walks. They must have all has sore feet by the end of the day!

21 Wits said...

JJ- You really make me laugh! They are a hearty bunch though aren't they?!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

You have me stumped, Karen!

Great pictures. I'm happy to see Miss Oregon right out front and warmly wrapped.

Kathy M.

toko baju muslim said...

Looks really nice your post! :-)love the first pic, thanks for sharing!

Little Nell said...

A mystery theme to your post this week Karen, but I'm not sure about that windy picture; I can only think of 'the windy city'!
I once joined a group of 'ramblers" but it wasn't for me, although I made some good friends.

Kristin said...

Thank you for looking into the Mystery Hike and letting us know what it was.

Galen Pearl said...

I remember getting a Brownie camera! Interesting story about the mystery hikes!

Brett Payne said...

The glass plate negative of walkers in the Blue Mountains is excellent, and very much in the flavour of this week's theme, but it's not likely to have been taken with any of the Box Brownie range of cameras, as they all used rollfilm. Nice to have a mention of the ubiquitous Brownie, though, as it's just the type camera that would have been used on such walks over many decades. I'm planning a feature on Brownies in a few weeks.

Unknown said...

I didn't know Mystery Tours existed before the Beatles recorded an album with that title somewhere in the 1960s.

The sepia photo looks awfully fake. I don't like fake old photos, last year someone made a 19th century style photo of me with a vintage camera using a glass plate instead of some mobile app.

Bruno Laliberté said...

Why do these suffragettes kinda scare me a bit. Reminds me of some women for temperance...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sffxVEJDuNA/SWIz4mH4CSI/AAAAAAAAAfM/wC8df2S3XsQ/s400/Temperance2.jpg

:D~
HUGZ