pointed away from the shore (fig. 4). Machines of the 

 18th and early 19th century were frequently equipped 

 with an awning which shielded the bather from 

 public view as she or he descended the steps to enter 

 the water. These awnings were left off the bathing 

 machines during the last half of the 19th century. 

 Such machines were used to a great extent in Europe 

 during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the United 

 States, howe\er. they were used only to a limited 

 extent during the first half of the 19th century. By 1870 

 they had practically disappeared — being replaced by 

 the stationary, sentry-box type of indi\idual structure 

 and the large communal bath house. 



'"Sentry-boxes"' were used before the 1870s at 

 beaches where the terrain did not encourage the use 

 of the bathing machines. At Long Branch, New 

 Jersey, and at one of the beaches at Newport, Rhode 

 Island, lines of these stationary structures were a\ail- 

 able to the bather for changing, one half designated 

 for women and the other half for men. Hours \aried 

 but it was the practice to run up colored flags to 

 signal bathing times for the ladies and then the gentle- 

 men. A male correspondent wrote from Newport 

 in 1857: 



If you are soc:ial and wish to bathe promiscuously, you 

 put on a dress and go in with the ladies, if you want to 

 cultivate the "fine and froggy art of swimming," unen- 

 cumbered by attire, you wait until the twelve o'clock 

 red-flag is run up — when the ladies retire." 



From its early beginnings, in the late 18ih and 

 early 19th century, the summer excursion to the resorts 

 and spas grew in popularitv. In 1848, a writer of a 

 Philadelphia fashion report explained that 



\'ery few ladies of fashion are now in town, most of them 

 being birds of passage during the last of July and all of 

 August. Most .Xmericans seem to have adopted the 

 fashion of visiting watering-places through the summer.'" 



As the summer excursion became a social e\'ent, 

 the recreational possibilities of bathing overshadowed 

 its earlier therapeutic function. Bathing became 

 part of an increasingly elaborate schedule of activities 

 where each event - bathing, dining, concerts, balls, 

 promenades, carriage rides — had its appoinied time, 

 place, and proper costume. 



-V 



'* ''Life at Watering-Placcs — Our Newport Corrcspondonl," 



Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (.\ugust 29. I8.")7), \ol. 

 4, no. 91, p. 197. 



'■' "Chit-Chat upon Philadelphia Fashions for .\ugust,"' 

 Coders Lad}'s Hook (.\iigust 1848), vol. ;i7. p. 119. 



Figure 3. — '"Sce.ne at Cape M.\y," Godefs Lady's 

 Book, August 1849. (Courtesy oj The New York Public 

 Library.) 



In addition to stiff ocean breezes, seaside resorts 

 had an extra appeal diat beguiled visitors away 

 from the spas — namely mixed bathing. For during 

 the bathing hour at the seashore all the stiffness 

 and etiquette of select society was abandoned to 

 pleasure. 



Again and again I try it. Deliriusm! I forget even Miss 



, and dive headforemost into the billows. I rush 



to meet them. I jump on their backs. I ride on their 

 combs, or I let them roll over me. ... I am in the 

 thickest of the bathers, and amid the roar of waves, am 

 driven wild \\ith excitement by the shouts of laughter; 

 burst of noisy merriment, and little jolly female shrieks of 

 fun. All are wild with excitement, ducking, diving, 

 splashing, lioating. rollicking."'" 



Thus bathing was transformed from a medicinal 

 treatment to a pleasurable pursuit. 



Excursionists had to be hardy indixiduals, linn 

 in their resolve to complete their trip. Althousjh 



-» ".Vly First Day at Cape May," Peterson's .l/agacnc (-August 

 185i;), vol. M), no. 2, p. 91. 



p.\PER 64: women's b.-\thing .and swimming 



■J'.l!1-!)(;-J — 6,S 2 



COSTUME IN THE UNITED ST.ATES 



