« Perched On Balance Rock, 1905 »
Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 11:10AM 
Books could be written about our penchant for having our pictures taken posed in or on any unusual natural (or unnatural) wonder – the “we were here” or “look what we did” craving was surely satisfied (or became manifest) by the invention of the camera. Books could be written, but probably won’t be, about the things we get up to when we go to a convention away from home, as was the case with this unsmiling group.
I appreciate that a thoughtful member wrote the details on the back of the cabinet mount, but my gratitude is sadly tempered by the fact that while energetically labeling a stack of photos, that person immediately turned them over and smeared black ink all over the face of the prior photos (this one was an unholy mess which fortunately did not stain any faces). For posterity, herewith is the record as written: Mr. & Mrs. Zenas J. Blake with other delegates from the B. of L.F.E. of Newport, VT, while in convention at Chattanooga, Tennessee. On Balance Rock (which is the couple, who are the others, what year was it, what is the acronym?)
Some enterprising photographer saw the tourists coming, so to speak; perhaps a license fee was paid for the franchise. A ladder was provided, but surely the ladies could not have gotten where they are with it in the position we see here, so when it was moved why wasn’t it removed from view? What you see has been cropped drastically since virtually half the image was extraneous background adding nothing to the effect (I know, I’m hard to please: picky, picky, picky!) It is quite small for a mounted cabinet card; 1905 – 1910.
Reader Comments (2)
Zenas Josiah Blake and his wife Addie Mae Foster of Newport, Vermont were my wife's great-great grandparents.
Have you any more pictures that belonged to them?
Thanks!
James Bianco
Westfield, MA.
By the way, Zenas and Addie are the center two people sitting.