East Harbor Memories

Well, Labor Day Weekend is here, signaling the traditional end of summer. So it’s a good time to squeeze in one last visit to Vacationland – specifically, East Harbor State Park.

I wrote about the park a few weeks ago and presented a large selection of postcards, including this one of the campground.

Well, here’s a photo from my parents’ old photo album showing the Bradys camping at East Harbor – 56 years ago this month. 

As the caption says, it was 1962 and our first year of camping. From left, it’s my sister, my younger brother (who was one year old at the time) in the stroller, me (in the baseball cap), Dad, and my older brother in the sailor cap. (My parents seemed to have a lot of trouble with that camera, because a lot of photos from those days have the big white streak in them.)

Remember the postcard below showing the beach, and the distinctive slabs of stone that bordered it?

Well, here I am with my brothers on the beach. (You can see the slanted stone in the background.) Hey, now my younger brother’s wearing the sailor hat – and he doesn’t look too happy about it.

My parents only took a couple of photos at East Harbor that year (I think there are only one or two more), but those snapshots left a lasting impression on me. They captured a special time in our lives, when my siblings and I were all very young, and being introduced to camping.

****

By the way, I took a Sunday drive out to East Harbor a few weeks ago. I was saddened to see that all of the old bathhouses on the beach are gone – probably because there isn’t much of beach in that area anymore. 

To me, these bathhouses were symbolic “gateways” to the beach, giving you a sneak peek of the fun that was waiting for you.

Here’s a photo of one of these bathhouses, courtesy of www.windfish.net.

I’m not sure when they were removed, but you can still see their “footprint” in aerial shots on Google Maps.