In past years, our vacations generally consisted of visiting my grandparents in NYC. In 1952 we took our first long distance vacation - at an island resort on one of the Maine's Belgrade Lakes. On the way, we visited my grandparents (William & Helen Mooseker) as well as my Great Grandmother Opoe ( ) in Patterson, NJ.
It was great fun for a 9 year old like me. Rustic cabin, lakeside dock with a boat, fishing, and best of all a surprise - my grandparents showed up to spend the week as well. We would run down to their cabin in the morning to wake them up. To this day I don't know how they got up there as I don't think they had a car, and there certainly wasn't room in ours.
Color photos are scans from 35mm slides using a Nikon Coolscan V scanner.
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-Cascade Bill Mooseker
Album by Cascade Bill. 1 - 24 of 24 Total. 374 Visits.
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Mother, my Great Grandmother Opoe, my Grandmother Dorsey (Helen). Bill, Elaine and Mark in the foreground.
On our way to Maine we visited my grandparents in New York. This was taken in Opoe's back yard in Patterson, NJ.
enlarge 326KB, 1024x693 3 s-52-0030 Another view, this time with my Dad
enlarge 274KB, 1024x693 4 s-52-0040 On our way - a traffic jam on the Merritt Parkway
enlarge 274KB, 1152x633 5 Belgrade Lake Camps
This is the resort we stayed at. I had a hard time finding this as the resort is long gone. Looking at the sunset photos in the album, told me that the resort had to be on the western side of an island. Looking at the Google Map of the Belgrade Lakes points to Hoyt Island on Grand Pond as a possible location.
A search led me to the 1949 edition of "Maine Invites You", which had this ad. The 1952 edition listed the cabin rate as $7.00 per day (!!!!) When I saw the name, R.E. Boomer, I knew this was it!
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Later when rummaging through a big box of family photos, I found this post card of one of the cottages at the Belgrade Lakes resort.
enlarge 232KB, 1152x683 7 09-12-23-1952-048 Back side of post card and indeed there was "R.E.Boomer"
enlarge 154KB, 1024x699 8 s-52-0041 Sunset view from the dock at our Belgrade Lakes cabin
enlarge 149KB, 1024x699 9 s-52-0050 Sunset
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Elaine on our dock with a string of White Perch. If you enlarge the photo to "Original" size, you can see her "Ride 'Em" Elaine shirt. I had a "Ride 'Em" Billy as well.
enlarge 218KB, 1024x699 11 s-52-0060 Bill with the fish - I was quite proud of the "Captain's" hat
enlarge 221KB, 1024x699 12 s-52-0061 Dorsey and Elaine <
We were surprised when our grandparents showed up at the resort. It was great to have them there. We would get up in the morning and run down to their cabin.
enlarge 167KB, 1024x699 13 s-52-0070 Mark - trying his hand at fishing
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Bill and Mark - you can see our boat. No motor, just oars, so we didn't get far on our fishing outings
enlarge 209KB, 1024x699 15 s-52-0080 Elaine with the resident kitty
enlarge 184KB, 1024x768 16 s-52-0081a Mom and Elaine on the dock. What a great picture
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Looking at this photo 70 years later, I'm appalled that there is Mark alone on the end of the dock with no life preserver.
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This must be when we were leaving - Dorsey, my granddad - Pop, Mom and Elaine (and Mark in the boat) with the Resort boat, The Indian, that transported us from the mainland to the Island.
enlarge 150KB, 1024x701 19 s-52-0091 Mom on the "Indian"
enlarge 219KB, 1024x718 20 s-52-0100 I think this is R. E. Boomer, the resort owner and his family.
enlarge 218KB, 1024x697 21 s-52-0110 Dot Lord
On our way home from Maine, we went via upper New York State. Along the way, we visited Dot and Bill Lord, who were friends of my parents. Bill Lord worked with my dad at the Tyrone Paper Mill before moving to New York (I forget the town).
enlarge 220KB, 1024x697 22 s-52-0111 Mark on one of the cannons at Fort Ticonderoga. You can read about it HERE.
enlarge 221KB, 1024x697 23 s-52-0120 Cannons and Mortars at the fort
enlarge 303KB, 1024x697 24 s-52-0121 A colorful Planting at one of those newfangled "motels" on our way home.
