I have a mystery photo That I hope can be solved. I purchased this online and it was listed as Seattle but the seller wasn’t sure. The back of the photo has “Magnolia Bluff” written on it in pencil. I’d love to find out exactly where this was taken.
Allen
Allen
Photo with “Magnolia Bluff” written in pencil. Date unknown. Image courtesy Allen.
Fascinating photo, but I suspect it is not Seattle. The vegetation is wrong for starters. The trees appear to be pines of the type that grow in warmer and drier climates. The body of water is a lake, not Puget Sound, for a dock like the one shown would not be adequate for the tides and winds of the Sound. Magnolia Bluff is a widespread place name, especially in places where magnolias are common.
Can the signs on the side of the train cars be read on the original photo? That might give a better idea of where the photo was taken, but I am unable to read the signs on the scanned picture.
Maybe it was in Wisconsin? http://www.ci.evansville.wi.gov/visitors/recreation.htm
I was thinking it might be somewhere in Seattle just not in Magnolia. Perhaps the person who labeled the picture was mistaken about where it was taken in Seattle.
I’m thinking this photo is from the opposite corner of the country. There is a Magnolia Bluff in Pensacola Florida, and everything seems to match up with this picture. A bluff, a pier (now gone), railroad tracks running along the beach. Check out these pictures:
A look at the pier; the benches seem to be the same:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/debra32514/543890034/
Looking at the railroad station; the stairs and the building on top of the hill look like they could be the same as in the mystery picture:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/images/h57000/h57901.jpg
The beach today. Same type of trees.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaseo/1364167234/
Google Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.447305,-87.165356&t=h&z=15
It’s enough to convince me.
It could be Pensacola, Florida. There used to be a bathhouse on a pier and it had benches for seating. There was also railroad tracks right along the beach.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/debra32514/543890034/
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=magnolia+bluff,+pensacola,+fl&sll=30.410939,-87.203711&sspn=0.003377,0.004238&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Magnolia+Bluff,+Pensacola,+Escambia,+Florida+32503&ll=30.447138,-87.171643&spn=0.013504,0.016952&t=h&z=16
Definitely not Seattle. Now if I could only read the Railroad name on the car on the far right. it looks like letters.
Also, check out this photo of Magnolia Bluffs Station at Camp Osceola, Pensacola. The double-wide staircase looks very much like the one in our target photo here.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/images/h57000/h57901.jpg
Hmmm… I read a little about Seattle’s railroad history on HistoryLink.com. There were railroads here in the late 1800′s, with a line north to Canada. Therefore, one might guess that this could have been somewhere in Interbay, which used to be tide flats (i.e. maybe it’s not a lake,) and is still a railway path. Perhaps the north end, near the trestle? Just guessing. There’s a photo of Seattle’s tide flats on http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=1734
Check out this photo of Magnolia Bluffs Station at Camp Osceola, Pensacola. The double-wide staircase looks very much like the one in our target photo here.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/images/h57000/h57901.jpg
I agree with E.O. – five bucks this is Texas or Florida not Washington. Definitely southern pines, and those RR cars don’t look like GN, NP, UP or Milwaukee to me either. (There is a “Bluff dam” in Magnolia Ridge, TX and a Magnolia Bluff near Pensacola, FL with RR tracks that run along with water as in the pic.)
You mean Magnolia Bluff near Galveston? according to maps, there looks to be an old RR grade that runs parallel to a river near League City, TX. see it here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=magnolia%20ridge%2C%20Texas&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
I’m leaning towards Pensacola, FL. The photos here are very convincing.
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