Thursday, January 15, 2009

Point Judith

The Tale of Two Families continues...


My parents, George and Edna, on the back steps of our beach cottage in Breakwater Village, Point Judith, Rhode Island, with my older three siblings, Steven, Debby and Kenny in the summer of 1949.


My mother with my maternal grandparents, at Breakwater Village at the start of construction of our beach cottage. My parents and my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Stuart built the cottage in the early 40's. My Uncle worked for Otis Elevator, and the cottage's siding was made from elevator packing crates!


There were only 2 or 3 other cottages in Breakwater Village at that time. It was still mostly a cow pasture that led to the sea.





Edna and Carolyn (oh, those suits and those hats!)



Uncle Stuart in his Coast Guard uniform.



Me with my big sister Debby and my double cousin Chris. (Hmm, not a very effective playpen, and I'm outa there...)



Me with my three older siblings, having a bath in the laundry bucket. These were simpler times, folks!



Me with my paternal grandparents, Gramma and Grampa Simmons, and my three older siblings. These last three pics are from the summer of 1955.



Walking on Sand Hill Cove Beach, summer of 1958.


The Block Island Ferry.



Walking by the breakwater with my mother and my little sisters Susan and Amy


Sue, me, and Amy at Point Judith Light, summer of 1965.


The beach house, the way it smelled when we arrived that first day in summer, the salt on all the windows that had to be washed off using pages from the Providence Journal, the breakwater, Block Island on the horizon, the Block Island Ferry going back and forth from Galilee, the light house, the fog horn, swimming in the ocean, bathing caps, rubber bathing shoes, Gramma's clam chowder, Gramma's Johnny Cakes, crabbing at the mussel bed, sleeping in bunkbeds, the old clawfoot tub, campfires on the bank, the stars, the moon rising over the water, the old wicker hamper full of ancient comic books...
so many stories, all imprinted at a cellular level.
Another time.
Just posting these few images is enough for now.

7 comments:

Brad Gailey said...

Thanks for the photos. They are really great.

Brad

Susan Beauchemin said...

Wow--that takes me back--waaay back!!
What fun to see these old photos! and the magic of the beach--I can almost breath the air!

martha miller said...

You're welcome, Brad! Do you have many old photos from your family?

martha miller said...

Hi Sue

I know, huh? And the smell of the musty drawer with the crayons and coloring books...

I still dream about the beach house...

Katie said...

Is this the start of the family blog...? It sure would be great, especially with Jonny's old photos.

I think I remember the beach house. I remember the scratchy beds... I think.

I love the pix of Gramma, and those hat! I didn't know that about the house... how it was made with the packing crates.

Such great stories! I love to hear them.

martha miller said...

hi katie

yes, could be! you would not remember that beach house - my parents sold it in 1974.

:^(

DA Anderson said...

Lived in the village with my parents in the 1940's. We rented the first house on the right as you drove in and lived there year round. My father was a fisherman.
Daryl Anne