Home Movies Of Lake Winnipesaukee

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Recently I found and purchased a DVD of historic significance. It is old home movies of a family from New Jersey. They were taken from 1929 to the mid 1940’s on Lake Winnipesaukee. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, it didn’t cost too much, so I took a chance. Yesterday afternoon I got a glimpse into the past.
The movies start out showing a few old boats and a seaplane. Then it goes to the family at a dock on what I believe is Paugus Bay. It was cute seeing the kids swimming and what appear to be the parents and grandparents having fun.
Then it jumps a few years, you can tell from the age of the children, the boathouse has changed and the rock wall at the shore is higher and the top part cemented. The photographer is standing on the dock with early wooden boats zooming by. Then we are on a boat seeing some of the shore.
After that the shots are from the water showing The Weirs. Old Chris Craft type boats are racing, rather close to land and each other.
The camera pans out onto Weirs Bay and the old Mt. Washington was coming in! I had tears in my eyes and goose bumps like you wouldn’t believe. The thought of seeing her hadn’t even crossed my mind. The shots are a bit jumpy because they are taken from a boat, but they are excellent anyway. They show her from stem to stern, then docked at the pier.
There is more racing, seaplanes and boats all around. People are water skiing, very close to other boats and little one-person boats are racing. There is a big crowd on the shore and on the water. The Weirs looks very similar to how it is today.
Later the photographer is actually on the ship, shooting scenes along the way. I think they show Bear Island, but I am not sure. They land in Centre Harbor where they pick up passengers, showing a bit of scenery on the way out.
Next it goes to a shot of Brewster’s Academy, followed by the wharf at Wolfeboro. I believe it is the train station at the waters edge.
The film then goes by Sandy Island Men’s Camp where they look to be having a lot of fun.
Camp Idlewild is next, where they are skiing on platforms, sometimes two at a time, it looks kind of like a huge knee board/sled. Again all the boats are dangerously close to one another.
At this point the film jumps to what appears to be Clark’s Trading Post and the Indian Head Motel.
After that there are shots of the Old Man In The Mountain and Echo Lake.
Then it is back to the family, which could have been taken down in New Jersey, but it is hard to tell.
At this point the movie is now shot in color. It must be about the mid 1940’s and there is footage of the new Mount Washington. They show her unloading and loading passengers, and then what I think is the Sophie C goes by. There are some shots of the shore, heading to Centre Harbor, which are on the dark side. The black and white movies were better quality, in my opinion.
They end the movie with a pan of Wolfeboro Bay.
Has anyone ever seen or know of any film footage of the first Mt. Washington? What a sight!
I am very happy that I found this DVD. What a sense of nostalgia seeing the lake from days gone by and it is a wonderful way to look back in time. The movies are in no way perfect, as this is not professionally done. Given the age of the film and the technology available then, I think it is pretty cool stuff. Home movies are what they are, home movies. Certain parts may be boring to others too. The whole thing held much interest for me, but I have turned into a Lake Winnipesaukee history junkie.
At this time the sellers are trying to work out the best way to make this DVD available to the public. I am hoping that they will allow me to post a bit of the video, so stay tuned!

[mcdude]

Wow! What a great find RG! I hope you can get permission to post some of the photos. I am fascinated with those little one man boats you refer to. They are called Penn Yan Swifties. Here is a shot of one at the Meredith Boat Show taken by JG1222. (I have one taken at the Wolfeboro Boat show but JG's is better) http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...cat=502&page=9
They are also shown in this Weirs postcard....
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...at=531&page=15
I would love to drive one some day!

[KBoater]

I recently converted home movies to tape. The black & WHite go back to the late 30's and somewhere in the late 40 to early 50s they go to color. Much of the early color would not transfer because of the quality. Wish they did because some of those are of WInnie.

[SIKSUKR]

Lucky you RG.Those films sound fantastic!Please let us know if copies become available cuz I would love to own one of those. SS

[PROPELLER]

RG, I would like to know if the giant platform is a round disc of plywood? I have a friend that used to use a giant round disc of plywood & you can stand up & ski it, twirl around in 360's etc. He even had a friend that would sit up on a bar stool with the bar stool standing on this plywood platform. I thought it was something from the 60's but maybe it goes back even further.

[tricia1218]

Where would you have old movies transfered to DVD or tape? I have quite a few from my grandmother, I am not sure how to play them without an older projector.

[Island Girl]

My father and I made one of those disks in the early 60s. We all learned to ride on it. My brother was the best at it and still uses it today. He can do all the 360 turns, stand on a chair on the disk and do the turns as well. But the best trick of all is that he can dive the disk under the water, with the water up to his neck and come up again. My daughter's first experience was on the disk, standing between my brothers legs. That old piece of plywood has its original paint, somewhat worn and a lot of memories.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

My father and I made one of those disks in the early 60s. We all learned to ride on it. My brother was the best at it and still uses it today. He can do all the 360 turns, stand on a chair on the disk and do the turns as well. But the best trick of all is that he can dive the disk under the water, with the water up to his neck and come up again. My daughter's first experience was on the disk, standing between my brothers legs. That old piece of plywood has its original paint, somewhat worn and a lot of memories.

We didn't have a disk but instead used a plywood sheet cut down to maybe, (trying to activate some really old neurons) hmmm, 5' long and 3' wide. The tow rope was affixed to the nose on this "jumboski" and then fed up to the rider. Kinda like the old Sno-Snurfers if you remember them. We towed it (mostly) behind a 10' Sears gamefisher w/a 10hp 'Rude OB. Couldn't do the tricks mentioned on the disk, it was mostly an contest to see if the rider could stay up as the driver created large wakes and spun you though them (out of sight of parental units). Catching a leading edge was .. a) highly probable and b) time to get wet. Of course the trick was to launch off the board when you got caught and get points for the artistry of your dive. A friend of mine was good in this regard. I was, shall we say, artistically challenged.

This was in the early 70's ...

I still keep suggesting (to nobody in particular, I guess I just ramble off about nothing to anybody nearby) that there's a market for some form of towable toy for those of us past our slalom days but still not ready for the passiveness of a tube. Some kind of sitdown sled (more than a kneeboard, less than an air-chair) that the rider/driver can manuver to make sharp cuts and jump wakes and such.

ps - Interesting find RG. Where/how did you run across it ? If not video, could you grab a few stills/frames from the DVD and Photopost them ?

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac

If not video, could you grab a few stills/frames from the DVD and Photopost them ?

How does one do this? I'm not even sure I am able to post any video either.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal

How does one do this? I'm not even sure I am able to post any video either.

It would depend of what you have for computer hardware. I'll assume that if you had some form of video input/capture hardware you wouldn't be asking so that leaves a DVD-ROM / player in your PC (or Mac). I've not tried it with mine, but I'm sure there's some way to freeze the playback and save the screen (given the right software). I'll see what I can do on my machine and let you know. If all you have is a stand-alone DVD player (no DVD in your PC or Mac) then you'd need a video capture device*. These can be had for not too much $$ but I wouldn't bother unless you think you want to get into the whole video editting thing on your PC (or Mac).

Alternately I guess you could freeze the picture on your TV (pause the DVD) and then use a digicam to take a picture of TV screen. It might not be high fidelity but then again it might just work well enough ...

*here's but 1 example of the simplest of such things.
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...559&pfp=BROWSE
There used to be devices known as frame grabbers that just made a "snap shot" of the video but I guess they are passe. Nowadays the analog video is converted into a digital video stream for storage on your hard disk and then, perhaps, burned to DVD.

[Island Girl]

I recently tried to freeze the frame, (easy), then use Print Key (shareware) to copy the movie part of the screen (also easy). The problem is that is copies the movie itself and starts running in the copied window. I turned off the movie and my Print Key saved screen went black.

Back to the drawing board.

[KBoater]

Not sure if it will help but check out this software.
http://www.irfanview.com/


I have used it for photo editing and slideshows.

[BroadHopper]

Lessee now. We can gather all the home movies together and create a chronicle of the lake. Then we can have Frtiz Weatherbee narrate. This will definitely blow 'On Golden Pond' out of the water!

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac

{snip}... but I'm sure there's some way to freeze the playback and save the screen (given the right software). I'll see what I can do on my machine and let you know.

I put Shrek2 in my ~2 yr old notebook and brought up the DVD playing software (WinDVD4). Sure enough there was a button labelled capture and clicking it froze a frame in VGA (640x480) resolution. It had an option to save the frame to the hard disk as a .bmp file. I would convert it to a JPEG before I 'd upload it to save space though. MS Windows Media Player 9 seems to support similar functions (though I didn't try it). So in summary with a DVD-ROM on your PC and the right software you could grab a frame or 3 and Photopost them.

If going the digicam route, I'd try a dark room with set the flash to off, use a tripod and set the shutter speed to 1/30 sec (? or slower ?).

[webmaster]

I used WinDVD to capture the stills in the "On Golden Pond" thread.

I've also used the Screen Capture function in Paint Shop Pro for things like this. Paint Shop Pro (http://www.jasc.com) is the graphics program I've always used to create graphics and edit pictures for this site. I highly recommend it for anyone who is intimidated by the complexity and high cost of Photo Shop.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Thanks for all the advice! We do have a DVD player on the computer, so there’s the first step. This is new to us, so we will see how it goes. I put the DVD in and it does play. Later Rattlesnake Guy is going to help me try and capture stills and hopefully a clip.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

We were able to capture some stills from the film. These shots are definitely better in the movie. The video clip that Rattlesnake Guy was able to capture plays way too fast and is even more jumpy than on the television. It can only be saved as a Giff file, so you will have to wait for the DVD to become available.

Bear Island?


Boat house, not sure where


Boy jumping on boat while watching the boat races at The Weirs


Taken from the film as the Mount is going by


Do you recognize the building in the background?


These little boats look like crazy fun!


The Infamous Aquaplane

[SPANKY]

thanks for posting the pics, it's great to look back at these old photos. the ski board reminds me of something from the early 80's that we referred to as a "toboggan". it was a bright orange sled that you would stand up on, (or try to) with a ski rope type handle on the front......i think i still have some bruises from it!!!

[CEP]

RG those pictures are great!
I was looking at the boat house you didn't know where it was. Picture No.2.
Could this be the boat house on the left as you are leaving Center Harbor, almost up to One Mile Narrows?
Sure looks like it to me!

CEP

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Good news. A legendary source tells me that Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society has been contacted about this DVD.
Things are moving in the right direction. It's just a matter of time.

[TiltonBB]

I believe that is the condo building at the North end of Meredith Bay. I am not sure the picture is as old as it looks.

[Island Girl]

Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac

We didn't have a disk but instead used a plywood sheet cut down to maybe, (trying to activate some really old neurons) hmmm, 5' long and 3' wide. The tow rope was affixed to the nose on this "jumboski" and then fed up to the rider.

What you describe was the first thing my sister and I ever rode on behind a 10 hp evinrude on a 12' Hiliner. It was made by the people next door to us and we inherited it when they bought real water skiis.

[Seaplane Pilot]

Spotlight Video in Hooksett NH can do the 8mm movie conversions for you. I don't have their number handy, but they are listed in directory assistance.

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

My father and I made one of those disks in the early 60s. We all learned to ride on it. My brother was the best at it and still uses it today. He can do all the 360 turns, stand on a chair on the disk and do the turns as well. But the best trick of all is that he can dive the disk under the water, with the water up to his neck and come up again. My daughter's first experience was on the disk, standing between my brothers legs. That old piece of plywood has its original paint, somewhat worn and a lot of memories.

Same here IG.I made my first one about 1970.About 4 ft in diameter.I painted it a yellow smiley face .That disc got a lot of use but one day stands out in particular.I was being whipped around in a 360 for speed and went for quite a spill.The disc submarined and when I popped my head out of the water to look around,the thing came popping out of the water and cracked me right between the eyes,opening up a nice gash on my forehead.I also had a toboggen that was made from a flat sheet of plywood.We had the same submarining incident a few times on that toy until one day the toboggen never came to the surface.It had inbedded itself deep into the muddy bottom of our shallow lake.There was no getting it out so we cut the line and made a new one!What fun we had on homemade toys! SS

[Sunset Bob]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

My father and I made one of those disks in the early 60s. We all learned to ride on it. My brother was the best at it and still uses it today. He can do all the 360 turns, stand on a chair on the disk and do the turns as well. But the best trick of all is that he can dive the disk under the water, with the water up to his neck and come up again. My daughter's first experience was on the disk, standing between my brothers legs. That old piece of plywood has its original paint, somewhat worn and a lot of memories.

This one was made by exbrother inlaw in the late 60s. It is still around and I still use it.

[Island Girl]

Thanks for the pics, SB. Those are the same tricks we used... my brother doingthe chair tricks, with the rope between his legs. Next summer if he is willing, I will take a picture of him diving the board down under water up to his neck. It is quite a sight!

[madrasahs]

Originally Posted by tricia1218

Where would you have old movies transfered to DVD or tape? I have quite a few from my grandmother, I am not sure how to play them without an older projector.

I'd heard of a place in Vermont that would do it. Google found one place: http://www.capitolvideo.com/ that would do the transfer to VHS @ $12 per hour.

http://www.capitolvideo.com/ Click onto "About Us".

[KBoater]

I had my movies transfered by Photo Spectrum in Wolfeboro. I think they sent them to Vermont.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

The ski boards appear to be rectangular, maybe 3 to 4 feet wide by 6 to 7 feet long. It is approximately 4 inches thick. The front of it is a knife-edge, the bevel is about a foot wide. The top of the board is flat, allowing two people to easily ride it. The tow rope is connected directly to the board, with another rope for holding onto. They are towing closer than we do today. (Big surprise.)
It’s a good thing these people are gone now. Marine Patrol would be trying to track them down! It is clear to see why a safe distance law was instituted, many of the boats came within ten feet of the people being towed.
The races at The Weirs look exceptionally dangerous too. 25’ (plus or minus) boats are racing around in a circle, very close together. Crazy! It does look like they are having fun though.

[KBoater]

We also had a tow board. I think they were commercely made at one time. Also the disk which were red. The crazy thing we had was a diving board. It was about 18 " by 12".
There were nobs on the sides. It was towed at short distance and not too fast. You would used the nobs to tilt you under water and then back up. Anyone have one of these.

We also used canoe paddles as water skis. I never mastered this but my neighbors did. You would hold the handle of the paddle at a right angle to the water, put your foot on the wide part, and start at a fast speed.

The boats that were close in the old pictures were going slow by todays standard so the danger was not quite at bad.

[tricia1218]

Thank you for the information on transfering from 8 mm to DVD. This will be great for the holidays!

[Rattlesnake Gal]

I realize this is somewhat off the subject, but along the same lines of preserving family history.

Last year for my aunt’s 70th birthday party, we borrowed old photographs, and some newer ones, from the relatives. We scanned them, put together a Power Point presentation and then borrowed an LCD projector and screen. There were almost 200 photos cycling through during the party. What a huge hit! Many of the pictures had never been seen, except by the photographer and their family. Some were from my mother and her sibling’s childhood. The range of years covered by the pictures, the subjects and shared memories helped to get nice conversations going. One of the best parties yet.
I had also uploaded all the pictures to Dot photo (nice price and good quality) and made prints, using them to make my first (and last) scrapbook. We gave it to my aunt as a gift. She absolutely loves it.

I wonder how many families have home movies and photos of the lake that have been lost or thrown away. Hopefully more of these treasures will surface as time goes by.

[legend]

The Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society would be very interested in obtaining a copy of this video.
We have another video which seems very similar to this.
The society wants to show these videos at its museum and may be able work out an arrangement with the owners to sell them for a small cost at the museum.
David Witham, retired vice principal at Laconia High School and a steamboat enthusiast, is working with the Rev. David Polhemus, formerly with the United Methodist Church in Gilford, to narrate some videos they have of early boating scenes from Lake Winnipesaukee.
And Ed Clark Sr. of Littleton has some rare vintage video of the Old Mount which was shot by Winston Pote, an early 20th century filmmaker, which I have seen. The society is hoping to obtain that film to make a DVD which can be shown and perhaps even marketed at the museum.

[Bear Islander]

The first picture is the Bear Island Mail Dock with the Post Office on the left. Here is a post card image from another angle.

[gtxrider]

We have movies, 8MM Color from 1965, that my grand father and father took of us learning and trying to learn to ski. My dad was as busy as a one armed paper hanger piloting the row boat, handling the tow rope and filming the venture. If you watch the movies motion sickness sets in.

I also rode a piece of plywood (known as an AQUAPLANE) in the mid 60's. We were attempting to learn to water ski and it had been leaning against the of the beach motel at Sandy Point for days so I tried it. Yup, behind a row boat with a 10 HP Evinrude (Speed Twin). The next day I got up on skis!

There was a towable called the zip sled made of blue plastic that could towed behind a boat.



Unsafe, we skied right off the beach in knee deep water and landed in the same spot. I came close to the big stone wall of the motel on the beach at Sandy Point several times.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

What I have been referring to as a ski board an aquaplane.
Siksukr’s story about his toboggan submarining to the bottom makes me wonder if these toys might have been deemed illegal for safety reasons. Can you imagine getting tangled in the rope and going down to the bottom with it? If anyone is considering building one of these toys, call Marine Patrol to be sure it allowed on the lake.

[cabinfever]

These stills send a shiver up my spine. What incredible glimpses into Winni's past. Happy to hear that historical society is now involved. This film footage is quite a treasure. Major thanks to you for finding and sharing it.

[Lin]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal

What I have been referring to as a ski board an aquaplane.
Siksukr’s story about his toboggan submarining to the bottom makes me wonder if these toys might have been deemed illegal for safety reasons. Can you imagine getting tangled in the rope and going down to the bottom with it? If anyone is considering building one of these toys, call Marine Patrol to be sure it allowed on the lake.

Fascinating movie. My mom still has a ton of old movies of us growing up at the lake. The aquaplane that we had is still up in our loft barn. I would not want to use that ever again. I can't imagine how any of us were never killed. Ours is huge heavy and has metal in it. Now I'm wondering if the old waterskis are on top of it. Probably a raccons nest now, no one has been up in the loft in years.

[Island Girl]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal

What I have been referring to as a ski board an aquaplane.

We just called it a surf board. It looked just the same as in the pictures you posted. We had a lot of fun on that thing. We were however very excited to have our first pair of water skiis, which had much more versatility. We tried all sorts of tricks with them. We eventually got a second pair that that a slaalom ski with it. We used them for years and years. The surfboard was never used after the skiis arrived.

But it was that surfboard that got us started!

[upthesaukee]

The disks and aquaplanes were neat back when I was a kid, easy to use even behind a small rowboat or Boston Whaler with small engine. My buddy also had a pair of trick skis that turned up on both ends and had no keel. Skied doubles behind his dad's Chris Craft and later twin screw Century Raven. Boy could you jump the wakes. Get out side the wake and turn sideways and just skid your way down the lake. Actually managed to do a 180 a couple of times (front to back, then fell on my %%% trying to go back to front. ). Did do a 360 once (wrapped the rope around my waist, started to turn, closed my eyes, and PRAYED!!!!). Prayer only worked once. All this back in the late 50's into the early 60's, the era of no fear (or utter stupidity, or anywhere in between). Never tried the chair thing. Great pics and stories everyone. brought back some great memories.