Upscale Vintage from Boston


I made another vintage stock purchase this week. Many of the dresses appear to have come from upscale shops in Boston. One dress has a label from 'Jays' - see below. And included in the lot were the two cardboard dress insert shown above, which also came from Jays. It seems that they wrapped your purchase and put these inserts in the dresses to keep them from getting wrinkled. Those are going to be mine so don't bother looking for them on the website!



There are about 10 dresses in the lot with the label below - 'C. Crawford Hollidge Boston Wellesley'. They were upscale enough to even have their own hat boxes made, and I got 3 of those in the lot too.
Checking online for info about the shop, I found this blog post with many great images of the shop on Shopping Days In Retro Boston - RH Stearns was their competitor across the street and I also have a hat from there too.






The Mystery of the Missing Cemetery


My parents own an old house in Strathmere, built in 1902. It was the annex of a hotel called the West Jersey Cottage, which was built in 1895. Louise & William Petersen built the hotel, and it was managed by Louise's brother Gus Wittkamp, and he took over ownership after the Petersen's deaths.
In the house we found a box of old papers with two bills for burials and an old cemetery plot from the late 1890s. The bill and the plot were for Woodland Cemetery. But trying to find it online previously and asking people where 'Woodland Cemetery' was got us no answer. No one had heard of it before.
What little info we were able to find was that it was opened in the late 1800s. The graves of a well known family in the area were eventually moved from Woodland after being vandalized, to another cemetery. Not many people were buried there for some reason and it changed owners everal times over the years.

The plot that we found the deed for was obviously never used and the family was eventually buried in another cemetery. But Louise and William Petersen, who built the West Jersey Cottage, had definately been buried in Woodland Cemetery in 1898 and 1899 according to the burial bills that we had.

So finally trying another search on Google maps, we found the cemetery. It is a big lot, mostly wooded, located between a golf course and campgrounds. The sign out front calls it the Ocean View Cemetery, which is why no one knew the Woodland name.


These are aerial views that I snagged from Bing. Above shows the long dirt road leading from the street back into the woods. You have to park on the street and walk the path to get to the graves at the back of the property.
Below are the few graves that are there, maybe 20. Most are from the late 1800s to early 1900s. The latest 4 were 1933, 1936, 1946 and 1986. The ground is all cleared and mowed, the current owners are taking good care of it. Huge ground, only 20 graves way in the back.



It turns out that the grandfather of this guy that my dad knows used to own the cemetery. The guy used to  help the grandfather take care of the property when he was a kid. He said that there was a peach orchard on it that they used to pick, and they also mowed the grounds. Because it's back in the woods and near campgrounds, it was apparently a big party spot and kids would go back there and drink. They would also vandalise, and some headstones were overturned and broken over the years.

He told my Dad about having to lift a tall memorial back into place on several occasions, usually around Halloween, because kids would knock it over. Below is that tall memorial, we had been toppled so many times over the years, and we were very surprised by the name - James P Carothers. This man built the Deauville Inn in Strathmere, originally called the Whelen Hotel, back in 1881. So it's amazing to find that 2 early settlers in Strathmere, who both built hotels, are both buried in this little cemetery! The island was nearly empty when these people settled there, just a few houses. Now they are out in a very sparse cemetery, together.



This was the grave that we were seeking!



Here are a few other shots from the grave.
The digger and the boats belong to the campground and the golf course.






A broken headstone.




The mystery about why the cemetery was hardly used still remains. We are planning on going to the historial museum in the fall to do some research, maybe they'll have some info about Woodland. But I was glad to find the Petersen's grave safe, especially after hearing the story about vandals.

Vintage beach towels displayed and repurposed

I had these two very cute vintage beach towels - one came from a local yard sale and the other I bought on ebay. The one towel has been thrown over a cedar chest the past year, because I didn't know what else to do with it. When I bought the 2nd one, I had to figure out something cool to do with them. I wanted to display them, but not mess with them in any way since they are perfect and unused.

So tah-dah, why not make curtains out of them? I only handstitched a loose rod pocket along the top - no cutting was done to them at all and the stitches are wide and spaced, easy to remove. I hung them in the kitchen in the cottage at the Shore, perfect for a beach kitchen, plus they are still nice and bright, letting light through. I love them.

Now - I need 2 more towels for the other window!




Here's a combined 145 pounds of love and sweetness coming at you!

Here's a quick video of my sweet doggies taken this morning. My parents went out, and Harlow and Boris were upset because they wanted to go too!

The Brazier Girls, 1962


I've been tracing the family tree over the past few months, only online, I haven't been to any county offices or anything. The other day I spoke with my Great-Aunt Joan about their side of the family. She gave me this picture, from 1962, taken at sister Mabel's wedding. It shows my great grandmother and all 8 of her daughters, she also had 2 sons. She had her first baby at about 13/14.

Back row left - My grandmother Mary, great-grandmother Mary, Joan, Ethel and Gloria.
In the front is Doris, Dolly, Mabel, and June.

Vintage laundry and hummingbirds

This morning I was soaking some vintage dresses out on the back deck and I was entertained by my hummingbirds while I was working. There was the usual frenzy at the feeders. So I thought that I'd do a quick little video of them, with a super quick peek at some dripping vintage dresses.

A visit to the Ocean City Historical Museum

Today I took a visit to the Ocean City Historical Museum. The museum is located at 1735 Simpson Street in the Cultural Arts Center and it is free to enter.
The easiest way to get there is to go on Bay Ave. and turn EAST onto 17th Street. That will take you right to the entrance of the huge building, which is currently under partial construction, but open to the public. The building also houses the Ocean City Library. When you go in the entrance of the building, you will go all the way to the back, through the library and to your right though a door. Eventually there will be a direct entrance to the museum.

If you love Ocean City NJ, town histories or antiques you will certainly enjoy this museum. It has many displays and photos to see. All items are actually from homes and families in Ocean City. There are displays on OC lifeguards, the police and fire departments, military, businesses, the OC High School, fishing, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and more. With a special display on the Sindia and a copy of Princess Grace's wedding gown. There are several partial rooms set up with antique furniture, paintings, glassware and household items.


The Ocean City beach Patrol display


A copy of Princess Grace's wedding gown (The Kelly family had a Summer home in Ocean City NJ)



Part of the display about fishing in Ocean City



Part of the large display on the Sindia



Household antiques and vintage swimsuits



Ocean City High School Memorabilia





Some of the many antique children's toys that are on display.




This Summer's featured display is Antique Tin Beach Toys, which includes 500 examples from collector Robert Smith. There are many tin pails, watercans, shovels, molds etc. And also old photos of Ocean City children posed with tin toys.