Venus Rises from the Sea, Wearing Eight Yards of Wet Flannel
It’s summer in Philadelphia!
O’Brien’s Philadelphia Wholesale Business Directory, 1844
Evening Telegraph, 17 July 1869
Evening Telegraph, 17 July 1869
Philadelphia Inquirer, 2 July 1877
You might try to make the best of it at home.
The Press, 19 July 1876
American Enterprise: Burley’s Centennial Gazetteer and Guide, 1876
The Press, 19 July 1876
But why not enjoy sea-bathing at the New Jersey shore, only two hours from Philadelphia?
Cowell’s Business Directory, 1860
Hotel Rooms Business Directory, 1870
Hotel Rooms Business Directory, 1870
Evening Telegraph, 8 July 1869
Evening Telegraph, 17 July 1869
The Press, 19 July 1876
The Press, 19 July 1876
The Press, 19 July 1876
The Press, 19 July 1876
Philadelphia Inquirer, 16 April 1877. The bunting mentioned here was a lightweight worsted wool.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 25 April 1877
Philadelphia Inquirer, 12 May 1877
What was a seaside, by the way? I could not find any images, but it was clearly something like a parasol. And what did these early bathing costumes look like?
Peterson’s Magazine, July 1870. References have been pasted into these figures.
Peterson’s Magazine, July 1870
Peterson’s Magazine, August 1870
The owner of the striking Grecian ensemble might have preferred to be seen rather than submerged. But how many of those little hats and sandals―and waterlogged women―were swept out to sea?
I would like one of those head to toe bathing suits! “Seaside” just means by the sea, or am I missing something? I could not imagine living two hours from the ocean! But I do take the train to get there… too much traffic to drive.
In 1869 H. Dixon and Mrs. M. A. Binder advertised seasides along with parasols. It would be good for business to require a special parasol for the shore. Or maybe they were enormous hats! Despite the distance, Philadelphians have loved going to “the shore” for centuries, even if it was not our shore. I have seen am eighteenth-century poetic lament on a rainy day in Cape May. The Victorian Cape May that is admired today did not exist then. I wonder when beach culture began in Southern California, and what forms it took in the days before the bathing machines and bunting bathing beauties.
Philadelphia as Advertised 
I would like one of those head to toe bathing suits! “Seaside” just means by the sea, or am I missing something? I could not imagine living two hours from the ocean! But I do take the train to get there… too much traffic to drive.
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In 1869 H. Dixon and Mrs. M. A. Binder advertised seasides along with parasols. It would be good for business to require a special parasol for the shore. Or maybe they were enormous hats! Despite the distance, Philadelphians have loved going to “the shore” for centuries, even if it was not our shore. I have seen am eighteenth-century poetic lament on a rainy day in Cape May. The Victorian Cape May that is admired today did not exist then. I wonder when beach culture began in Southern California, and what forms it took in the days before the bathing machines and bunting bathing beauties.
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