Damariscotta Lake Jefferson, ME. 33

Damariscotta Lake Jefferson, ME. 33

A view looking across a field and a bay of Damariscotta Lake, toward the uplands of an opposite shore, punctuated with farmsteads, fields and woods. The profiles of distant mountains appear over the ridgeline. This image was originally made by one of the the Cunningham brothers, Frank and Bert, who had a studio in nearby Washington, Maine, "...brothers (who) formed a creative and business partnership for a while around the turn of the century, traversing a familiar sweep of a few hundred miles of countryside by horse and buggy to capture whatever scenes of daily life-- work, home, clebration, recreation-- appealed to their customers. Their glass plates,which sometimes began as unique, commissioned images, were often used subsequently to print postcards and cabinet cards for a wider market. At this time, photography remained a fairly technical skill; photographs were still enticing and special objects to most people." [source: PMM Cunningham Brothers Collection, pmm.org] This scenic image is one of the Cunningham's that was made into a postcard by the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company during a time when city dwellers were beginning to look to the unspoiled regions of northern New England for temporary respite from urban life.