[barbarianbabs]

I’ll bet metal detector guys flock there

[oldasrocks]

At my age “roughing it” means an RV with black and white TV. 50 or so years ago survival camping was fun.

[SJackson]

Outdoors/Rural/wildlife/hunting/hiking/backpacking/National Parks/animals list please FR mail me to be on or off . And ping me is you see articles of interest.

Warren G. Harding, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, auto camping tour, 1921

Edison, Ford, Firestone video halfway down the page.

[buffaloguy]

I think the popularity of the Gibson girl was instrumental in this growth of camping.

The Gibson girl was:
Smart
Capable of activities that previously were the domain of men.
Graceful

They were what we now call gamers.

[gattaca]

ping

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

There was a long cultural build up to recreational camping. The romanticism of the outdoors goes way back. Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” (1845) so idealized it that it was almost fantasy; and Mark Twain’s “Roughing It” (1872), made it seem like an awesome romp. And there were many, many others.

[euram]

I’ve got pictures of my great grandparents on various picnics. The women all had on their big hats, men were in suits, ties, hats, and watch chains. But, they were sitting on the ground eating from a huge picnic basket.

[smokingfrog]

Women without corsets?
What’s the world coming to...?

[NH Red]

Ping

[VanDeKoik]

Much of northern lower-peninsula Michigan is filled with Victorian “cottages” and “cabins” that are larger than your average house is today.

And the new generation of them are still just summer McMansions that people go to to “camp”.

[brianr10]

Really rich guys built the great camps like Sagamore in the Adirondacks.

[Snickering Hound]

They had no electricity or running water and lived in wood shacks.

They were camping already.

[Vinnie]

And then there’s Geo. Vanderbilt’s summer escape..Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.

[Albion Wilde]

In our family photo albums, there are pictures of a woman wearing a striped skirt like that. Must have been a "thing" back then.

[ek_hornbeck]

I remember vintage photos of duck hunting clubs from the 1920’s where all of the hunters were dressed in suits and ties (even while in canoes or standing in the reeds with a brace of ducks). I suppose that ducks were much more abundant and a lot dumber back then, so that camouflaging yourself wasn’t a priority.