Today’s post is a bit off topic, but I’ll be bringing it around to fashion before it ends.
In 1953 the two kids are all consumed by their books (I’m betting there’s at least one comic book hidden behind the “legitimate” books) and today’s kids are consumed by their smart phones and other gadgets. But the result is the same. Dad is lecturing about how they could read at home, and mom is taking photos to share with her friends. In today’s world she’d at least make the kids stand in front of the pretty view so she could post the photos on her blog and write about how much fun they had.
I tried to pinpoint Point Lookout. I wasn’t even sure it was a depiction of an actual place. And while there are Point Lookouts all over the country, this one looks like it was taken in my part of the country. There was a Point Lookout on Highway 70 between Asheville and Old Fort, and it very well could have been the spot. Today, Hwy 70 has been replaced by I-40, but there is still a trail up to Point Lookout that people can hike or bike.
And now for the fashion. I’m sure you’ve noticed that the mom and the daughter are both wearing dresses. I can remember taking rides on the Blue Ridge Parkway, or through the Smokies, and my great aunt and my grandmother would be wearing casual dresses, but thank goodness that by the early 1960s, little girls were allowed to wear shorts for a day in the mountains.
The Vintage Traveler 
Just like my little girl who is always glued to a book!
Great picture. I’ve recently started collecting vintage magazines, they’re fascinating. Xxx
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Yes, so fascinating. I’m glad your little girl is a bookworm!
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When I was a kid in the 1950s, taking the family out for a Sunday Drive (still in our Sunday clothes) was very common. Gasoline was relatively cheap, and we might drop in on friends who lived in the country, or, rarely, drive over to the coast for a fish dinner: Fresh cracked crab, or Italian seafood stew so messy that even the adults had to wear bibs! I loved the child-sized oyster crackers, too. Thanks for awakening some happy memories.
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And thanks to you for sharing them with us.
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I had to laugh at your “dresses” comment. I own exactly two pairs of pants, both jeans, and remember my friends’ reaction when I first wore them.
Just a dress person. They are cooler and more comfortable and make me feel more feminine. Does everybody know a weird
I remember how shocked my girl friends were to see me in them the first time! Just prefer dresses
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I do and it’s me! I almost always wear dresses, and in the winter, I layer wool skirts with tights and boots – they’re just more fun and comfortable for me!
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Lisa!! Where have you been all my life??
If I knew how to post a heart, I would!
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Apologies. There was a glitch while I typed. S/B Does everybody know a weirdo like me?
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Lizzie…thanks for the memory! Many a photo do we have posed in front of the mountain overlook…just like your picture….and yes, WE wore pants and comfortable knit shirts.
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My teens love to wear skirts. They also say it’s more comfortable. It’s me (their mom) who is accustomed to slacks in the casual situations. I think it’s just that I grew up on a farm, and there were things to do outside all of the time. I was taught to dress for the occasion. Dresses were for Sunday mornings, and sometimes at school. I grew up in the 70s/80s. I do sometimes wonder who convinced us to give up some of our femininity that way. Love reading all of the memories here, and I’m fascinated with the 50s clothing too.
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My grandparents (along with my father) took many road trips in the 1940s-1950s and in the photos my dad and grandpa are usually in slacks (jeans for my dad, often) and (sometimes wild print) shirts or t-shirts, and my grandma always looks so chic. She is usually wearing slacks, a blouse, and pair of cute sandals. When I think of my own family road trips in the 1970s-80s, the first thing that comes to mind are me, my sister, and my father in track suits! Not quite matching ones (a la The Royal Tennenbaums), but still. Yikes.
Now, because I usually am working at home all day in comfortable clothing that is nothing special, when I go out–whether out for dinner with Andy or on a buying trip–I almost always wear a dress. It’s my only chance to get dressed up, and I find dresses very comfortable.
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Love the track suit story, Ari!
I can just picture your grandmother. I see a lot of photos of women who had adopted that comfortable but chic traveling “uniform.”
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I have a distinct memory of wearing shorts on our annual car trip from the Chicago suburbs to my aunt’s and uncle’s farm near Springfield ILL. I was worried that people in the restaurant where we always stopped would notice if I wore the same outfit coming and going. What vanity! Anyway, that could not have been later than 1961.
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You remembered them, so why shouldn’t they remember you?!
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Kind of surprised that you didn’t tell one of our Sunday drive stories – there are several.
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Ha! You mean the one where YOU tell the joke about the dirty steak?
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What I remember most is how mom and dad would bribe us with a trip to the Biltmore Dairy Bar if we behaved. Ah, cherry vanilla ice cream – sweet memories. (I also remember BB and the infamous bananas!)
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Please, do NOT make me think about the bananas!
(Dear readers, in case you are confused, LB is my Little Brother.)
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I was born in 1953 and my kids were shocked when I told them I wore dresses to school every day. My mom always wore a dress, until the 1980s when she found some coulottes, and wore those to the mountains.
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We are close in age, and I was in high school in the early 70s before girls were allowed to wear pants. I can’t remember my grandmother ever in anything besides a dress. One Christmas someone bought her some sweat pants and shirts, but I’m pretty sure she never wore them. The same is true of my mother-in-law.
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