1864

When looking at the photo of “Hastings from the Beach” 1864, I notice that the beach area appears rocky. This does not appear to be a place that I would want to go and enjoy the water. Seeing the women in the photo dressed in what appears to be layers of clothing makes me think that it is in the cooler time of the year rather than the warmer months. If they wanted to get into the water, they would have gotten into a bathing machine. This is a covered wagon of sorts where they could take off the outer layer of clothes and enter the water from the back end. The bathing machine would be very close to the water so that as women exited the machine and entered the water, they would not be seen.