mountainpark

One of the things I love about this series is the happy faces on the subjects with few exceptions. In many of the archives on the Commons the poses are formal and the faces severe, the change is very pleasant, thanks to Mr. Godby!

Everything that I have read about the Coal Branch, including what Allan Godby and his family wrote, indicates that it was a very lively series of communities.

And I thought the arm thing was just a posing thing for teens today ;)

Photo subjects often do strange things with their arms. I think people just feel self-conscious.

Very nice, not that well equipped clothing wise for the weather but I expect they were just posing for the camera. Plenty of fire power there including that low slung pistol - an automatic something like a Luger/Mauser???

I think it is something like a Mauser. I've seen pistols like that appear in other Godby photos. I'm not entirely sure why they would need it, but I guess when you're wandering around in territory with bears and mountain lions then it pays to be prepared! No bear spray back then, unless I'm mistaken.

The pistol is probably a WWI trophy.

Could be! I hadn't thought of that.

Car looks later than 1935.

The date here is purely a guess, as no dates were noted on this photo. We know when Charles Lee lived in the area and was actively taking photographs, so the date was safely picked from the middle of this era. It is quite possible that this photo was taken later.