Floyd Greenwood

Category: White Mountains

  • Tip Top House

    Tip Top House

    It was a stormy day at the Brimfield Flea Market last September. So much so a tree fell across my driveway and nearly blocked me out. But I didn’t know that yet. I had a set of early National Geographic maps tucked under my arm that I got for a steal, and couldn’t let a drop of water soil my new treasures, no matter how nominal the cost. There came a gap in the rain so I took advantage of it and moved to a different tent.

    Each dealer had their own white party tent to display their wares. I took shelter in a booth just as the thunder boomed and the rain commenced again. This dealer specialized in post cards. I found the New Hampshire box and pulled out the card you see above. It’s a real photo postcard (RPPC)1 depicting the Tip Top House on Mt. Washington. There are many pictures of this hotel out there, but this one is unlike any other I’ve seen. Scrap wood and miscellaneous materials are strewn about the foreground. Identifiable objects include an AMC trail sign, another sign on top of a barrel saying “Please do not molest woodchucks,” a wheelbarrow, hatchet, window, fire bucket, toolbox, and window shutters.

    The scene piqued my curiosity. It’s not everyday you see bric-a-brac outside an upscale hostelry. The card is unused and has no written information, except of course the resident woodchuck population on Mt. Washington. When the rain subsided I bought the card and returned to my car.

    Rear side of the postcard. The different fading on the edges suggests it was once in an album.

    Narrowing the date of this postcard was a fun task. First, there are a couple of clues on the back. The stamp box has the letters “AZO” and four upward pointing triangles at each corner, a design used from 1904-1918.2 It is a divided back card, a style used between 1907 and 1915.

    Returning to the photograph, here’s where it gets interesting. There’s a trail sign in the photo listing the Crawford Bridle Path, Boott Spur, and Boulder trails. Boulder presumably refers to the Glen Boulder Trail. According to the AMC White Mountain Guide of 1920, the Boott Spur Trail was constructed in 1900 and Glen Boulder by 1906, so the photo must postdate that, although it does not narrow down the date range any further. The Tip Top House burned on August 29, 1915 and was subsequently rebuilt, but that doesn’t narrow the date either. Ironically, there’s a fire bucket in the foreground.

    I continued my search on the AMC Archives website. There was another fire on Mt. Washington June 18, 1908. All the summit buildings burned except the Tip Top House. I found one image of this event with Tip Top House in the background.3 The break in the boardwalk railing in the postcard match that of the AMC photo. It makes sense, too, for a fire bucket to be out after a blaze, not to mention scattered materials and debris. I believe this postcard dates to June 1908!

    I’ve seen other photos from the 1908 fire since writing above,4 and the broken railing seems to be the best identifier of photos taken immediately after the disaster.

    The photographer is unknown, but possibly Guy Shorey, who sold his own postcards in Gorham, NH. He visited the summit ruins the morning after the fire.5

    Footnotes

    1. Real photo postcards are photographs produced directly on post card stock. Learn more about the medium on Wikipedia. ↩︎
    2. Playle, David, “How to Identify and Date Real Photo Vintage Postcards,” playle.com, David Playle, https://www.playle.com/realphoto/. ↩︎
    3. [The summit of Mount Washington, N.H., showing the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1908, with the Tip Top House and the Cog Railway track], June 19, 1908, LS35.03, lantern slide, Appalachian Mountain Club Library & Archvies, AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch, Bretton Woods, NH, https://outdoors.catalogaccess.com/photos/1585. ↩︎
    4. Russack, Rick, “Fire on the summit: 101 years ago,” White Mountain History, WhiteMountainHistory.org, https://www.whitemountainhistory.org/fire-on-mt-washington. A better photo of the broken railing is in the gallery at the bottom of the page. ↩︎
    5. Ibid. ↩︎

  • AMC Map 1887

    AMC Map 1887

    This is the @appalachianmountainclub ‘s (AMC) first standalone map of the White Mountains. I found this copy with the help of @jkelleyupnorth at a bookstore in Boston this summer. It’s hard to find; just four online sale records from the last 15 years. Graciously, Jack let me have it!

    Cartographically, this map is unusual. It sports a unique system of nomenclature and symbology and a now obscure method for depicting topography.

    Each summit has an alphanumeric code and a symbol. For example, the code for Mt. Washington is F6.1, meaning the summit is in Area 6 of Region F and it is the tallest (1) peak in Area 6.

    Mt. Washington’s symbol is ◯ indicating a summit with no steep or “precipitous” faces (see image 4). According to the key, the symbol “ꓷ” indicates a summit with one side steep and “C” a summit with one side flat. Topography is represented with hachuring, lines showing the orientation of slope.

    These methods were soon abandoned in favor of the contour lines we are familiar with today, adopted most notably by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). However, much of the AMC’s summit elevation data, much of it collected by members, stands the test of time and is not far off modern surveys.

    ‘Pocket maps’ such as this one came with book-like covers to protect the contents while in the field. The front cover of this copy bears the name “S. Hollingsworth.” A bit of googling unearthed Sumner Hollingsworth, a paper manufacturer from South Braintree and member of the AMC in 1888.

    The scans of the map (images 2-5) are courtesy of @bostonraremaps (theirs is in nicer shape than mine).

    Originally published on Instagram September 7, 2023.