Camp fashion?

[Harry]

This little paragraph was in the August 11, 1892 Evening Standard, page 2:

"A number of Miss Lizzie Borden’s most intimate friends are spending several weeks at Marion, and it is the party that Miss Borden expected to join this week. They are for the most part members of the Central Congregational Church, to which Miss Borden belongs, and they have been living camp fashion in a house owned by Dr. Handy of Fall River."

Anybody have any idea what "camp fashion' means?

[Audrey]

Is it using a picnic table bench as a runway and working it???

[Mark A.]

Audrey, if that is Camp fashion then sign me up!

[Susan]

Audrey, thats great! Thanks for the laugh.


Harry, from what I could find, maybe it refers to the "girls" as sleeping rough, on the floor instead of in beds? Thats the only part of camping I could think of that they might do indoors.

Outdoor camping – essentially a rustic version of middle-class home life – became a popular vacation activity for many Victorian men and women, especially after the publication of W.H.H. Murray’s Adventures in the Wilderness in 1869. This extremely popular book stimulated what contemporaries called "Murray’s Rush" to such areas as the Catskills, the
Adirondack, and the White Mountains. For a party of six or eight people (considered the ideal number), there would be several tents, one designated as a dining and drawing room, the others for sleeping. Some campers brought cots or made beds by filling empty mattress and pillow ticking with boughs or other available materials. Campers were urged to take blue, red, or gray blankets (which did not show dust), and a two-or three yard strip of old carpet to cover the ground in the center of the tent. Camp chairs, steamer chairs, and hammocks provided comfortable seating, and smart campers transported their equipment in boxes and flat trunks that could double as washstands, cupboards, tables, and extra seating.

From this site: http://www.victorianstation.com/leisurehorse.htm

[Audrey]

seriously...

I do think it meant as Susuan states-- sleeping rough.

Perhaps they had a dormitory styled room with many of them sleeping in it or were sleeping willy nilly about the place on sofas, chaises, lounges, beds and of course-- the floor.

[Harry]

Thanks for the info Susan.

I got to agree that sleeping on the floor was as far as they went and that was considered roughing it.

It would be great if we knew more about Dr. Handy's cottage and how modern it was. I haven't read of Handy being among the wealthy families of FR.

[Susan]

You're welcome, Harry, I really couldn't think of anything else. I was going to say, maybe they cooked over an open fire, but, they did that everyday in one of those stoves of the time.

[Kat]

I was under the impression that Dr, Handy's cottage was of a sigificant size. Now from where did I hear that?

[Kat]

OOPS. Well, look at the pretty flower, because I can't remove this post

[lydiapinkham]

Hello, all!

I love the L. L. Bean swimsuit issue photo, Audrey!

I think the camping must refer to sleeping arrangements too. Even if Handy's cabin was a large one, I doubt it would provide beds for a party that large. What I keep imagining is the pall that must have been thrown over the festivities: imagine, one of your party is missing because she's awaiting trial for her parents' murder! Some holiday! I imagine scattered whispers and forced jollity at Marion. And very little fishing done. Do you suppose the girls found sinkers on the lines? Did anyone ever think to ask them?

--Lyddie

[Kat]

Yes you're right! That was quite a bunch of girls, ladies etc.
There might be communal lines and sinkers there like an English country house?
Lizzie's lines were at her farm in Swansea.
And she hadn't used them in 5 years.
So now I wonder how often she did go to Marion?