Up to now, the Dad’s Photos series has really focused on my father’s life in Massacusetts—both on Cape Cod & in the Boston area—in the late 1930s; there was one installment that involved a fishing trip to northern Vermont, but otherwise all the images came from the Bay State.
My father was, however, a Vermonter born & bred—born in Bellows Falls, VT & until he developed a passion for Florida late in life, always happiest in that area I believe. In the fall of 1939, Dad left his Boston digs & headed for a hunting camp outside the little village of Athens, Vermont. I have very distinct & pleasant memories of Athens from some 20 plus years later—it was on the way to Townsend State Park from our home in Westminster, & we often went to Townsend for swimming & picnics when I was a boy. I noticed on Wikipedia that the population of Athens was 340 in 2000, so I’m thinking it was really small in ’39.
Hope you enjoy these!
My father’s top caption for the first two pictures was:
From This to This – Fall of 1939
Room plus me at 187 St. Botolph St. [Note: this is located in Boston’s Back Bay]
Camp plus me, Athens Hill
The Woodard Farm
Camp, Nov. 1939 – “Home” winter of 39-40
New Years 1940 Not much snow but “cold”
The Road Home
Looking north from the Slash [also the caption for the photo at the top of the post]
