More massive boxwood hedges — this time at Oak Hill, near Danville, Virginia, ca. 1930s, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The house was built in 1825 by the Hairston family. It burned down in 1988.
“Women on the steps of a multi-story white building with dark timbering,” between 1906 and 1942 (I think before 1920), an autochrome by Arnold Genthe, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The small size of the digital copy of this image makes it difficult to be sure whether the walk areas are brick (like the steps). But I believe they are. (They could be something like decomposed granite.) I love how the tree has been preserved as part of the space.
Two women and a young boy next to a balcony of roses at the Trutat chalet, Foix in the Midi-Pyrénées of France.
The autochrome was taken ca. 1903 by Eugène Trutat, via Bibliothèque de Toulouse Commons on flickr.
Look, Delia, how w’ esteem the half-blown rose
The image of thy blush and summer’s honour. . .— Samuel Daniel, from “Delia 31“
“Porches and front lawns of row of bungalows, Rockaway, N.Y.,” between 1908 and 1911, by Bain News Service, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Rockaway (or The Rockaways) is a peninsula of Long Island within the New York City borough of Queens. It became a popular beach resort in the 1880s, when a commuter rail line from Manhattan opened a stop there.
Small summer bungalows were prolific in Rockaway during the first half of the 20th century — there were over 7,000 in the area by 1933. Most were torn down, however, during 1960s urban development. The preservation of those that remain is the subject of a 2010 documentary, The Bungalows of Rockaway. You can see the trailer here — and more pictures of Rockaway bungalow life here.
Man and woman work in front of a joint sod hut covered in grass and flowers, near the village of Vestre Jakobeselv, Norway. Taken 1900 by Ellisif Rannveig Wessell, via Preus Museum Commons on flickr.
Living in Finnmark, in the far northeastern part of Norway, Wessel photographed the hard lives of its rural poor. The Preus Museum — Norway’s national museum of photography — compares her to Jacob A. Riis and Lewis Hine.
She developed her own glass plates and used sunlight to make her prints.
Warm summer sun,
Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind,
Blow softly here.
Green sod above,
Lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear heart,
Good night, good night.— Mark Twain, “Warm Summer Sun“
enclos*ure 