Down by the Seaside
In the Gilded Age following Reconstruction the idea of vacationing at the seashore grew, although the beach vacation of that age had little in common with those of today. Swimwear was concealing, rather than revealing, although some gasped when they saw the latest swim fashions. Many early seaside vacations didn’t involve the water at all. The trips to the shore were for the purpose of taking the sea air, considered to be superior in healthful quality to the air of the internal cities and towns. Given the prevalence of burning coal for power and heat, it very likely was.
Vacationers traveled to seaside towns up and down the East and West Coasts, usually by rail, though sometimes the more affluent used their private yachts. Seaside cabins and bungalows were built in many smaller coastal towns to accommodate their visitors. Many built boardwalks for the express purpose of allowing vacationers to walk along the waterfront with an unrestricted view of the water while not soiling their shoes, trousers, and long dresses with beach sand. Rather than bask in the rays of the sun, ladies carried parasols to shield themselves from it while gentlemen wore hats. In the heat of summer the straw hat came into vogue.
There was a dissident party which believed a trip to the seaside meant entry into the water, and seaside towns built dressing cabins and other facilities to accommodate those visitors. In many towns watchmen were recruited to ensure that the local citizenry would not have its mores violated by swimwear which was too revealing, for both women and men. Other amusements were built along the boardwalks, include arcades, wax museums, and other amusements so that they often resembled the midway at carnivals. These drew further attention from the guardians of morality as they were often operated by out-of-towners, open only for the season.
Many of the wealthy built homes in the seaside towns to remain there throughout the summer months, remaining in contact with their business if necessary by telegraph, telephone, and train. These homes were often equipped with baths which included salt water taps, allowing them to enjoy soaking in salt water without the necessity of communing with the commoners who used the beaches. The greatest of these summer “cottages” were erected along the Cliff Walk of Newport, Rhode Island, and included The Breakers, a mansion of 70 rooms on five floors built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
Many of the smaller seaside vacation destinations were transformed into motel and hotel dominated waterfronts during the mid to late twentieth century, though a few still retain their turn of the century aura, sometimes in designated historic districts. The seaside vacation of the turn of the century had little in common with that of the late twentieth and beyond, when sun and surf supplanted the desire to take the sea air in leisurely strolls down uncrowded boardwalks. Vacations to the shore have always been one of the most popular, though for much different reasons over time.