steampower

Goodness, these machines were huge! My aunt speaks of the threshing days and how the women all worked to put on a dinner for the farmers.

The Princess Anne was an Old Dominion steamship running between Norfolk, VA and NYC for many years. She was launched at Chester, PA on May 1, 1897 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0CEFDD1630E132A... See also Chesapeake Steamers, Page 35 books.google.com/books?id=UUnMTCDT0ZsC According to the Medical Record V52, 1897, page 762 in a list of resorts.. books.google.com/books?id=0BcCAAAAYAAJ 'Old Point Comfort and Virginia Beach, as well as Norfolk, are accessible from New York by the Old Dominion Steamship Company's line. Fares from New York to Old Point, $8; round trip, $13. The same to Norfolk. To Virginia Beach, $8.50; round trip, $13.50. Hotel rates, $3 to $5 per day. The Old Dominion line dispatches one of its comfortable and commodious ocean-going steamers every week day for these Virginia ports, and the night at sea generally proves a delightful break in the journey.' The trip was clearly popular. The steamship was one of four that Old Dominion Line extended (or at least planned to) by cutting in half and welding in a forty-two foot section in the middle -- to carry more passengers. CUTTING A FLEET IN TWO December 17, 1905, Sunday query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9403E4DB153AE733A... However, the journey was not always trouble-free: PANIC ON THE PRINCESS ANNE.; Old Dominion Liner Reaches Port Ten Hours Late After Hard Battle Against the Storm. September 17, 1903, Thursday query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E7DC173AE733A... JAMES T. SCHEUER DEAD.; New Yorker Disappeared from Old Dominion Liner. January 28, 1909, Thursday query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A01EEDD153EE733A... PRINCESS ANNE RENT ASUNDER MID PANIC; Officers' Pistols Quiet Crew When Plates Snap--Men Taken Off Later. VESSEL IS A TOTAL LOSS Hope Abandoned for Ship Flooded Below Main Deck--May Salvage Cargo. Pistols Quiet the Crew. Rescue Ship Near Disaster. February 10, 1920, Tuesday query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A06EFD6133BEE32A... During the 1910-1915 period, the NYT suggests a couple of options for newsworthy events involving the Princess Anne that might help date the photo. One possibility is 'the southern mobilization effort' LIKE REAL WARTIME AS LOCAL TROOPS GO; 1,450 Coast Artillerymen Off in a Hurry for Galveston Via Fort Monroe. March 9, 1911, Thursday query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0CE0DD1439E333A... Troops were setting off from NYC for Galveston via Fort Monroe (Hampton, VA) on the Old Dominion liner Jamestown. The Princess Anne was loaded up with supplies for the same journey. See also 'Troops arriving in Galveston' in what looks like a passenger liner rather than a naval ship www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163503938/ [Aside: The article above also mentions marines heading to Philadelphia to embark on the Prairie for Cuba. Could be connected to: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2162704503 www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163505442] Later that year, she brought to NYC the crew and some of the passengers from a liner sunk off Cape Charles, VA. and given the direct connection to flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163461266/ this seems the most likely date for the picture. MERIDA PASSENGERS TELL OF HER LOSS; The Princess Anne Brings Crew and Travelers Saved from Sinking Ward Liner. May 14, 1911, Sunday query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0CEFDD1E3EE033A... But she kept on cropping up in the news... NYT March 13, 1915, Saturday query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9502E4DA1539E333A... 'The crews of four ships that had been sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich, arrived here yesterday afternoon by the Old Dominion Line steamship Princess Anne, on their way home to France and Russia.' Her wreck after running aground off Rockaway Point in February 1920 (see NYT citation above) is now familiar to divers. See www.aquaexplorers.com/PrincessAnne.htm. This page gives 1930 as the wreck date, instead of 1920 (which is from the NYT article).

Strange grouping. It looks like the soldiers are protecting the harvesting. The man with the dog looks like the landowner (plus fours etc). Were they threatened?

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Could the date be wrong?

As you seem to imply, it's hard to say when the civil war was "over" . Really great photo. Thanks.

Moira Well, that's the question, isn't it? Big house, politicial allegiances, local issues?