"Postcards Are A Popular Collectible And Represent A Slice Of History Never To Be Experience Again..."

Thse postcards are taken from the private collecton of Walt Brown gathered over the years from various places including flea markets and antique stores.

Lately, there have been some good finds on e-Bay, but you have to be careful because some of these cards are not originals, they are reproductions. That's OK, but it should be plainly declared that they are not orginals.

I am always on the lookout for old postcards of Cape Cod, the Cape Cod canal, Wareham, Buzzards Bay, Wareham ( including Onset ), Marion, and other South Coast locations.

Please send me copies of those postcards you can't part with. I will display them on this Web site and give you proper attribution.

So, without further ado, here is where the postcards begin.

Enjoy!

This card goes back before the 1938 Hurricane and is labelled Shady Lane Cove, but there is no Shady Lane Cove. There is a road called Shady Lane which takes you to a part of Marks Cove (sometimes called Cedar Cove)known as Shady Lane.

The back of the card is shown first and although it is not visible in the picture, the card is postmarked August 29, 1917.

The writing on the card is hard to read sideways, so I will try to translate:

"This view is directly in front of us. The boys camp is around the wooded point. A splendid beach and very pretty here. Quite a long walk. We came in an auto. Too far to walk with baggage. We have enjoyed our first day and are going after clams tomorrow. [signed]Dusty L.M.T.We bath right in front of summer house."

I think the "summer house" is the gazebo. I have no idea what or where the "boys" camp is. Perhaps they were all camps in those days and not cottages.

The card had to be produced before 1917.

Postmarked from Wareham, MA, August 29, 1917 at 5PM. The postcard was made for A.B.Cleveland who ran the general store on Swifts Beach. It was known on the beach as the "ABC" store after Mr. Cleveland's initials. The store was located on Wankinquoah Ave that ran parallel to the beach. It later became known as Brown's store after Mr. Cleveland died.

I have another postcard dated 1909 which shows the ABC store.

What a mess.

There is lots of sand visible. Overgrown pretty much now.

To the left is Marks Cove with the Cedar Island. Beyond that is the Weweantic River. It is not Marion Harbor as the card suggests. Marion Harbor is beyond the horizon to the left.

The beach is much more crowded now. People came back and built new cottages on the ground that was wiped clean by Carol.

Every cottage on the beach was destroyed either by the 1938 hurricane or Carol except for the large Victorian at the end of Bay View Street on the beach. That structure has survived every hurricane, damaged and wrecked but unbowed.

The Victorian survivor peeks out from between the trees which were also destroyed in the 1938 hurricane.

There used to be lots of trees, mighty oaks, but they are all gone now, brought to their knees, innocent victims of Carol and 1938 hurricanes. Some were over 100 year old.