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September 1937. "Hyde Park Inn in Hyde Park, Vermont." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
I'm not sure why "open plumbing" should be a selling point, but evidently it was!
Definition: Open Plumbing
Plumbing that is exposed to view beneath its fixtures, with ventilated drains and traps readily accessible for inspection and repairs.
From the 1917 Blue Book Automotive guide:
"Hyde Park Inn, in the beautiful Lemoille Valley. On the Northern scenic route from Burlington to the White Mountains. Modern open plumbing. Rooms en suite with bath. Electric lights day and night. Fresh vegetables from our own gardens. Garage."
Sounds nice.
I suspect they are serving the Pennsylvania Dutch version of chicken and waffles, where pulled chicken is served on a waffle, then covered in gravy. That's in contrast to today's version, which seems to have originated at Wells' Supper Club in Harlem, about a year after this photo.
Dang, now I'm hungry.
So you can sleep off all that southern fried chicken and waffles you ate in earlier times.
So many people think that "chicken and waffles" are a new, innovative and southern invention and yet, 80 yrs. ago in Vermont which is in the northeast, it was featured on their marquee. There really is nothing new under the sun, as the saying goes. I must admit that this scenic, serene, comfortable and welcoming inn would have definitely lured me in, had I been traveling through New England at that time. When looking at these long-ago scenes on Shorpy, don't you sometimes wish you could go back for just a day or a week and look around and live in some of these tranquil settings, talk to the people, use the old cars, dress in the old fashions and enjoy a taste of life in that low-tech era? Picture yourself on a rocking chair on this porch on a warm September day, smelling the frying chicken through the screened windows and doors and yet feeling a late summer breeze of fresh air wafting off the trees.
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