HOME MOVIES: 1950’S

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1940s

Format: 16mm

Description: This silent home movie shows a trip to New England in the late 1940s or early 1950’s. It provides footage of notable land marks such as the Woodlawn Museum, Acadia National Park, the Bok Amphitheater, and the House of Seven Gables among others. It opens with footage of the Woodlawn Museum in Ellsworth, Maine constructed sometime around 1824 to 1827 (:18). This two-story historic estate is also known as the Black Mansion and had been owned by three generations of the Black family. Silver birch trees are filmed in the area (:37). The film travels to a lobster pound in Maine (:50) with shots of a man holding two live lobsters (:57) as well as weighing them for a customer (1:11). The cooked lobsters are prepared for a meal (1:23). The town of Bar Harbor follows with shots of the rocky water line (1:45). Shots of Sand beach are shown which is ringed by mountains (2:13). Cadillac Mountain is located within Acadia National Park on one of the small islands (2:55) called Mount Desert Island. A view is filmed from across Penobscot Bay (3:28). In the town of Camden, the Bok Amphitheater is spotted on Penobscot Bay (3:46). Stone steps are shot in the parks around the amphitheater (3:59). Boats bob in the harbor of Penobscot Bay (4:04). A car rides down a roadway towards Brunswick (4:30) as the Bowdoin Pines are seen. Two towers of the Bowdoin College campus peak over the tree line (4:37) and the red brick buildings of the campus follow immediately after (4:49). The Androscoggin River Falls are pictured in Brunswick (4:59) prior to footage of Gloucester, Maine (5:06-5:14). The House of Seven Gables is seen in Salem Massachusetts (5:39) which had been built in 1668 and named after Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel of the same name. The camera pans around the town’s streets (5:53). The tourists take a sight-seeing ride through Boston on a horse drawn carriage (6:00). The Boston Common is the oldest public park which had been set aside for common use in 1634 (6:13). The Soldiers and Sailors monument, erected in 1877, pokes above the tree line (6:20). The public gardens set behind the Boston Common are viewed with boats in the waterway and the city’s buildings rising in the background (6:41). Park Street Church in Downtown Boston (7:11) is where "America" (My Country, Tis of Thee) had been sung for the first time. Granary Burying Ground is viewed which is Boston’s third oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 (7:27). Notables whom had been buried here include signers of the Declaration of Independence such as John Hancock and Sam Adams. Paul Revere’s gravestone is captured (7:28) as well as Benjamin Franklin’s parents’ gravestone (7:36). A side angle shot of Samuel Adam’s gravestone follows (7:45). The site of the Boston Massacre, which occurred in 1770, is viewed which took place out front of the Old State House (8:05). From the rear balcony of the Old State House, the Declaration of Independence had been read. Faneuil Hall is seen (8:11) and this had been opened in 1743. Samuel Adams and James Otis delivered speeches here. Paul Revere’s brick home is seen missing two of it’s original four chimneys as they had been shot off by the British (8:30). Navy men in white uniforms are spotted to the bottom right of the screen (8:44). The Bunker Hill Monument is viewed (9:09) whose first cornerstone had been set down by Lafayette in 1825. A quote from one of John Greenleaf Whittier, the American poet is read on screen (9:15) and his home in Massachusetts follows (9:25). In Lexington, the Minuteman Statue is captured (9:40). Buckman Tavern (9:50) is where the Minutemen had gathered after Paul Revere’s midnight ride. The columns surrounding Plymouth Rock (10:17) follows. Images of Cape Cod and it’s glacial ponds are filmed (10:29). The historic Dillingham House is seen in Brewster, Massachusetts (10:55) as well as a candle shop nearby (11:08). A woman inside the shop holds candles by the wick and dips them in and out of wax (11:24). The city of Provincetown is shown (11:38). Women pick through a cranberry bog to gather cranberries (12:02). Waves crash onto the shoreline at Hyannis Port Beach (12:15). A pair of swans swim through the water (13:10) and the film concludes over a sunset (13:21).

Complete Record: This silent home movie shows a trip to New England in the late 1940s or early 1950’s. It provides footage of notable land marks such as the Woodlawn Museum, Acadia National Park, the Bok Amphitheater, and the House of Seven Gables among others. It opens with footage of the Woodlawn Museum in Ellsworth, Maine constructed sometime around 1824 to 1827 (:18). This two-story historic estate is also known as the Black Mansion and had been owned by three generations of the Black family. Silver birch trees are filmed in the area (:37). The film travels to a lobster pound in Maine (:50) with shots of a man holding two live lobsters (:57) as well as weighing them for a customer (1:11). The cooked lobsters are prepared for a meal (1:23). The town of Bar Harbor follows with shots of the rocky water line (1:45). Shots of Sand beach are shown which is ringed by mountains (2:13). Cadillac Mountain is located within Acadia National Park on one of the small islands (2:55) called Mount Desert Island. A view is filmed from across Penobscot Bay (3:28). In the town of Camden, the Bok Amphitheater is spotted on Penobscot Bay (3:46). Stone steps are shot in the parks around the amphitheater (3:59). Boats bob in the harbor of Penobscot Bay (4:04). A car rides down a roadway towards Brunswick (4:30) as the Bowdoin Pines are seen. Two towers of the Bowdoin College campus peak over the tree line (4:37) and the red brick buildings of the campus follow immediately after (4:49). The Androscoggin River Falls are pictured in Brunswick (4:59) prior to footage of Gloucester, Maine (5:06-5:14). The House of Seven Gables is seen in Salem Massachusetts (5:39) which had been built in 1668 and named after Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel of the same name. The camera pans around the town’s streets (5:53). The tourists take a sight-seeing ride through Boston on a horse drawn carriage (6:00). The Boston Common is the oldest public park which had been set aside for common use in 1634 (6:13). The Soldiers and Sailors monument, erected in 1877, pokes above the tree line (6:20). The public gardens set behind the Boston Common are viewed with boats in the waterway and the city’s buildings rising in the background (6:41). Park Street Church in Downtown Boston (7:11) is where "America" (My Country, Tis of Thee) had been sung for the first time. Granary Burying Ground is viewed which is Boston’s third oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 (7:27). Notables whom had been buried here include signers of the Declaration of Independence such as John Hancock and Sam Adams. Paul Revere’s gravestone is captured (7:28) as well as Benjamin Franklin’s parents’ gravestone (7:36). A side angle shot of Samuel Adam’s gravestone follows (7:45). The site of the Boston Massacre, which occurred in 1770, is viewed which took place out front of the Old State House (8:05). From the rear balcony of the Old State House, the Declaration of Independence had been read. Faneuil Hall is seen (8:11) and this had been opened in 1743. Samuel Adams and James Otis delivered speeches here. Paul Revere’s brick home is seen missing two of it’s original four chimneys as they had been shot off by the British (8:30). Navy men in white uniforms are spotted to the bottom right of the screen (8:44). The Bunker Hill Monument is viewed (9:09) whose first cornerstone had been set down by Lafayette in 1825. A quote from one of John Greenleaf Whittier, the American poet is read on screen (9:15) and his home in Massachusetts follows (9:25). In Lexington, the Minuteman Statue is captured (9:40). Buckman Tavern (9:50) is where the Minutemen had gathered after Paul Revere’s midnight ride. The columns surrounding Plymouth Rock (10:17) follows. Images of Cape Cod and it’s glacial ponds are filmed (10:29). The historic Dillingham House is seen in Brewster, Massachusetts (10:55) as well as a candle shop nearby (11:08). A woman inside the shop holds candles by the wick and dips them in and out of wax (11:24). The city of Provincetown is shown (11:38). Women pick through a cranberry bog to gather cranberries (12:02). Waves crash onto the shoreline at Hyannis Port Beach (12:15). A pair of swans swim through the water (13:10) and the film concludes over a sunset (13:21).