Here's an interesting New England oddity preserved on a picture post card from my collection: The Alton Bay Reptile Museum. It reminds me a bit of Perry's Nut House (also re-visited here) of Belfast, Maine. Look at the cute monkeys framing the second floor windows!
The owner, Eugenia Shorrock, was mentioned in a "miscellany" article published in Time magazine on September 4, 1944: "Safe. In Alton, N.H., Mrs. Eugenia Shorrock, keeper of a reptile zoo, kept her purse in the python cage."
I found an advertisement from 1950 for the Reptile Museum (image here) which reads: "REPTILE ZOO AND GIFT SHOPS. PRESENTING Living Reptiles, Animals & Curios. A choice line of Jewelry, and Gifts for all occasions. Miniatures & Collectors Items. Toys - Souvenirs - & Greeting Cards. NEW Arrivals from the Far East. Bicycles. Row Boats for Rent. Live Bait for Sale. ALTON BAY, N. H. Tel. 156. ON LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE. EUGENIA S. SHORROCK, Prop."
Alton is the largest town in physical area of the lakes region. Since the mid-1800s, tourism has been the principal business. In 1872, the Boston and Maine Railroad launched at Alton Bay the steamer Mount Washington, the first side-wheeler and largest vessel on Lake Winnipesaukee. When destroyed by fire in 1939, a replacement ship was found, also christened Mount Washington. Today, it continues to carry summer tourists between stops on the lake.
Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire. It is approximately 21 miles long (northwest-southeast) and from one to nine miles wide (northeast-southwest), covering 69 square miles with a maximum depth of 212 feet. The lake contains at least 253 islands, half of which are less than a quarter-acre in size and is indented by several peninsulas, yielding a total shoreline of some 288 miles. The driving distance around the lake is 63 miles. Winnipesaukee is the third-largest lake in New England after Lake Champlain and Moosehead Lake.
A site called OldPostcards.com has an interesting array of old stores and shop postcards, which includes the same view of the Reptile Zoo. Wishing you all a happy Postcard Friendship Friday!
Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire. It is approximately 21 miles long (northwest-southeast) and from one to nine miles wide (northeast-southwest), covering 69 square miles with a maximum depth of 212 feet. The lake contains at least 253 islands, half of which are less than a quarter-acre in size and is indented by several peninsulas, yielding a total shoreline of some 288 miles. The driving distance around the lake is 63 miles. Winnipesaukee is the third-largest lake in New England after Lake Champlain and Moosehead Lake.
A site called OldPostcards.com has an interesting array of old stores and shop postcards, which includes the same view of the Reptile Zoo. Wishing you all a happy Postcard Friendship Friday!
12 comments:
That's a great card. I love roadside postcards like that.
I love cards like that, ones that show what everyday life is/was like. And I can tell you it doesn't look the least bit like the Alton in Hampshire in the UK, which is what I thought when I first saw the title! I used to live nearby.
Happy PFF!! Gorgeous scene. :)
Great card. I can remember visiting some of these roadside attractions when I was a kid... many many many years ago. Seems sad that kids today won't have those same adventures! Happy PFF!
This post made me think of so many things. First, it immediately reminded me of Perry's Nut House even though I had forgotten that you were the one who posted that. I had to take another look at that one too. Then, it reminded me that gas stations don't need to be ugly. Then, it reminded me of the picture of Sarkozy in the boat on Lake Winnipesaukie in 2007, and how the French press photoshopped his love handles out of the picture before publishing. Ha ha, thanks for waking up some brain cells.
Photoshopping is less painful than liposuction, quicker than exercising and easier than dieting!
WOW... interesting story to the area of Alton Bay. being from the west I had no idea there were ferries there. PFF
Thank you to everyone who commented on the Alton Bay Reptile Zoo this Postcard Friendly Friday! I got off on a bit of a tangent researching its owner, Eugenia Skinner Shorrock:
http://anitanh.blogspot.com/2010/01/eugenia-shorrocks-snakes-and-shrunken.html
I will post further information about Eugenia's fabulous collection when the auction catalog arrives.
I guess my intense interest in this woman is due, in part, to the fact that I detect a kindred spirit. We both relocated from Massachusetts to this area and established retail shops to reflect our idiosyncratic personalities. I'll be developing this theme further in a future post!
And to think it all started with a single postcard that I've had hidden in a box for years. Thanks to Marie for providing the reason to research the story behind it!
My Mom just emailed me! She LOVED your post! I'm thinking about installing a handy dandy python guard cage for my purse too!
How cool is that?! Happy PFF!
this card is fabulous. I agree with Sheila, about the cards that show everyday life. The details are so telling. I bet those reptile zoos were very exciting. (I just remembered one time there was a tiger behind a fence at an old Esso station when I was little in the 60s ('put a tiger in your tank') Happy PFF, Anita!
Thanks for your post. I picked up the identical card this weekend. My interest comes from a poster I found a few years ago advertising the Zoo. Admission was 10 cents and camp groups were welcome
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