*** seaside resorts countries








Seaside Resorts: Countries

seaside resorts
Figure 1.--This family, probably Italian Americans, having their photograph taken during a beach outing to Coney Island. I would date the photograph about 1910. Note the boy's all-white sailor suit and Dutch boy bangs.

Sea side resorts were popular even in atiquity. Herculinium near Pompey, for example, was a popular resort in ancient Rome. It was destroyed by the same eruption that destroyed Pompei, but it doing so left us a perfectly preserved example of a Roman seaside resort. After the fall of Rome the idea of a seaside villa disappeared from the European experience as did the idea of a vacation itself. Only many yeears later was the idea of sea bathing as a healthful, enjoable vacation experience revived in Europe. Information is most available on England and English seaside resorts. While England appears to have lead the way, the seaside at about the same time was becoming popular in France and other countries as well.

Belgium


England

The first references in modern Europe that I am aware of were in England. As an island people surrounded by the sea, the English have an historic fascination for the seaside. Few Englishmen now live more than two hours travel by road or rail. The English have a varied coast. From the rocky, craggy Cornish coastline, to the fabeled limestone cliffs of the Channel coast, to the flatlands of East Anglia, and the wild North Sea cliffs of East Yorkshire. The English in the 18th century began taking the waters at Bath and then ventured to the coast for sea bathing. Although the rich in the 18th century were able to spend time amusingly at theseaside on the advice of their doctors, it wasn't until the 19th century that Britons in their masses were able to get there. Most Seaside towns have been there for centuries. From these towns and villages fishermen had for centuries ventured out ti sea to earn aliving from the sea. Traders and merchants to look for opportunities beyond the coast. Facilities for bathers and vacationers were, however, usually developedduring the Victorian era when visiting the ocean became fashionable. Another Victorian innovation which formed the centrepiece of many resorts was the pier. Many British seaside towns built piers. These were very popular in Victorian times.

Finland

There are beach resorts in the southern and western regions of the country. During the summer, families might enjoy a beach outing. Finland of course is not known for its beaches. But there are several popular beach resorts. Until after World War II and the advent of inexpensive air travel, few Finns could enjoy Mediterranean or other beach vacations. Thus the Finnish Baltic Sea beaches had to do. One of the best known beach resports is located along the western coast--Oulu. It is a mixed spa and beach resort. Temperatures here can sometimes reach the 80s which warm for Finland. There are soveraly sandy beaches in Filand. Hietaniemi Beach (Hietsu) in located in Helsinki. This is the most popular beach in the Finnish capital because it can be visited on a day trip on a city bus without having to stay in a hotel. The local call it "Hietsu".

France

Beach resorts also began to become popular in France in the late 18th century. I have little information on developments in France. however, because of my inability to access French sources. There were many important seaside resports in the 19th century. Some images do provide insights into beachwear. Like England, fashions appear to our modern eye to have been very formal, hardly suitable for what we now consider to be beachwear.

Germany

The seaside was also popular in Germany. Beaches on lakes near Berlin were popular day trips. There were also seaside resorts on the Baltic coast. German'y Baltic coast is today rather limited. The German Empire until World ar I, however, had a very extensive Baltic coast. Even after the 1919 Versailles Agreement and the creation of the Polish Corridor, there was still an dxtensive Baltic coadt. There were also a number of Baltic Sea islands that were popular resorts. Unfortuntly, the German seaside Baltic resorts are in the north, just the opposite of the French Mediteranean beach resorts located in the South. This limited the seasonal appeal of the German resorts. As with America, England, France, and other countries, it was popular to have portraits taken in studios located at these beach resorts. Of course, no garment was more popular for these beach resort portraits.

Italy

Surely Italy as a narrow peninsula must have more resorts than any other country, at least in porortion to population. We know that there were seaside vacation resorts even in ancient Rome, such as Pompei and Capri. Although I am not sure just what such communities were. I think it was more the wealthy building villas there rather than the common people vacationing. I am also not sure to what extent swimming and beach activities were involved. We know the Romans loved bathing, but we do not know know to what extent swimming was involved. We do not know when beach resorts began to appear in modern Italy. We do see some beach scenes in the early 20th century. There appear to have been quite a number of popular beach resorts. One such ewsort was Rimini, today one of the best-known seaside resort on the eastern cost of Italy.

Japan

We know very little about Japanese beach resorts at this time. We do not know the names of the major resorts or when the beach became a popular vacation activity. We do note such images provided by a Japanese reader which show Japanese children enjoying the beach in the early 20th century. We do not, however, habe any written sources describing Japanese beach resorts and the history the seaside as a popular vacation destimation.

Spain

We know very little about Spanish seaside resorts at this time. The situation in Spain seems similar to that in Italy. One factor here was the similar climate, at least along the Mediterranean coast. Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923). These pictures show the Spanish coast near Valencia which look rather like seabathing and beach resorts that were also reported at Naples at the time.

United States

I have no information about American interest in the seaside and bathing during the 18th and early 19th century. After the Civil War, however, as the populatin of the great northeastern cities began to increase, there was great interest in seaside outings by all classes of society. People wanted to escape the sweltering tempeartures of the increasingly crowded cities for at least a short time during the summer. Wealthy peoole might spend the entire summer at beach resorts or their own summer "cottages". Beach resorts began to appear in the 1870s and by the 1880s, hundreds of beach resorts dotted the eastern seaboard. The impetus for this explosion was the steamy industrial cities of the northeast. A rising industrial workforce had more buying power than ever before and craved relief from the heat of the tenaments. A newly affluent middle class vitually created the concept of the summer vacation. (For rural America, the summer was hardly a time for vacation, it was a time of increased work caring for and harvesting the years crop.) The idea of a seaside vacation was buttressed by new ideas about the healthful benefits of sea bathing.







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Created: September 6, 1998
Last updated: 12:28 AM 8/17/2009