Snapshots from a turn-of-the-century vacation

The two photographs below are from a photo album likely compiled by Walter M. Smith, an engineer with family ties to Spartanburg. According to the title page of the album, Mr. Smith appears to have a taken a tour of the eastern seaboard in the winter of 1901-02, during which these photographs were taken.

Title page of the photo album.

Stopping in Glenn Springs in eastern Spartanburg County, Mr. Smith took several photographs of scenes and buildings, including the two below. Shown from two different angles is the house of Dr. William F. Smith, described by a contemporary* as “well educated and a finished gentleman.” In the details, we can glimpse Dr. Smith on the porch of his home holding a toddler.

Two photos of the Dr. William F. Smith home as they appear in Walter Smith's photo album.

The photo on the left enlarged and enhanced.

A detail of that image showing children in the yard and others near the porch.

Dr. Smith's house from a different angle.

Detailed view of image above showing Dr. Smith with a toddler on his knee.

The album, from the Walter M. and Marie Smith Papers in the Littlejohn Collection, contains several dozen silver gelatin snapshots taken in Glenn Springs, Spartanburg, Charleston, New York, and Boston.

*Dr. J.B.O. Landrum, in his History of Spartanburg County (1900).