Jack's pictures of Rockport, MA-1942

Two things I remember about Rockport was milk ice cones (the war was on, no ice cream) and all the rocks outside our cottage. I actually have home movies of this time...amazing they are still in good shape.

There was only one summer in Rockport and then the artists moved on to Provincetown, MA...my favorite. We went there for four summers.

Rockport, MA

When I was 10 years old, during World War II, my parents followed their fellow artists to Rockport, MA for the summer. My mother, with her two daughters, went on ahead to find a cot†age or rooming house for the season. Here is a letter that she wrote to my father, who was still in New York.

Clear View Cottage

Bearskin Neck

Rockport, Mass

Dear Jack,

We are all beside ourselves. We just moved in and we have the best cottage in all Rockport. Yesterday we met Joe Caplin and he and Virginia walked us over here (it’s across some water from them) They urged me to take it as cottages are going very fast., but I thought I ought to be careful and I looked all day yesterday –and came to the conclusion this is the best.

It is $200 for the season, but the woman I rented it from, who is an awful nice person said that she has had so many calls for August that we can sublet if we don’t want to stay.

I looked at such awful places for as high as $150…such bad appointments, stoves etc. that this place looks too perfect, almost.

Boarding houses seem to be out because of the rationing and meals are high, but you can get a good dinner for about 55 cents or less, but they can go as high as $1.75

If you feel like getting breakfast, Janet insists she make lunches, then we can eat out four times a week or so.

There are quite a few places for $150 back in the town, over the hill. But it might as well be Manasquan with a long walk to the water. Here we are surrounded by water.

This is how it is….x is our house.

There is a cookstove in the kitchen and an oil burning cook stove in the living room for heat and warmth on foggy days.

The bed in the living room will be ours-it opens out-one of those, but has strong mattresses on both sides.

I paid down $15. deposit and she will wait till you come for the rest. $185.

Bring all the towels you can. I will need sheets and pillow cases so if the laundry man doesn’t come, call him up or make him send them when they’re done. 5 0r 6 sheets and plenty of pillow cases…also the sharp kitchen knives and the iron.

I can see thousands of miles of ocean as I sit j

here and write.

The kids are beside themselves with joy/

I caught a stinking cold but bought Kleenex and vapo rub. I fortunetly brought the aspirin. I feel better today, but it is cold here. Better bring my heavy black coat with the shiny buttons instead of the spring coat., I picked…Please!

Come as quick as you can because it is lovely. We’re right in the heart of the fishing industry and it’s full of character.

I stayed in a room for two nights $3.50 per night. Some expense/

Love, Margo

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About Me

A Cartoonist's Daughter

Born in New York City of artist parents. Studied dance and art...wound up in Massachusetts. Can't dance anymore except in secret, but can still do art.

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Watercolors by Margaret

The Thief and The Prostitute....Ink and Wash

Vintage Christmas Card (1940s) by Jack

Middletown, NJ pictures

Margaret and Susan, Margaret cooking?, Jack in the old jalopy with the rumble seat and a sketch of Margaret bathing.

Sorry about the wide spacing in the text. I don't know what happened.

The House in the Woods

Sometime in the late thirties my father bought a one room school house and had it moved into the woods in Middletown, NJ.

There was no electricity, running water or anything else, like a bathroom. They carved a bedroom out for Susan and me and added a small screened in porch. I think we managed for a summer or two and then they put in a well and added a kitchen. We still had to use the woods for a toilet and the brook for a bathtub.

The kitched had a stove that was fed by bottled kerosene and there was a pump in the sink for water. I still have a lamp from that house...now electrified. I believe there was some kind of radio that ran on batteries or maybe just a wind up victrola.

Outside of our bedroom was a large table for eating and drawing. A closet had been built in our bedroom covered by a silk screen print of children's faces...I can still see it.

We would leave NYC in Jack"s old car and drive down some road (no Jersey turnpike then) Maybe I sat in the rumble seat. Sometimes we would stop at a road side stand for hamburgers and root beer. This was really a treat and very good food. Off we would go, again...probably stopping in Red Bank for some food...Did we have an ice box? I seem to remember Jack hauling blocks of ice. Driving on we would make a right onto a dirt road and then on to our house.

I was about eight years old and Susan about two. Jack would make me paper doll dresses and tell me stories. His idea of a paper doll dress was to cut a shape out of stacked papers and then I could paint them into different outfits. Paper dolls were my passion.

I had friends from school here...I can't imagine what they thought when we told them that they had to go to the bathroom under a tree. I hardly think that my grandmother would have enjoyed this...so I think visits with relatives were in Manasquan.

This was a great place and we all had a wonderful time. Though I do remember one year when we were leaving, and my parents were hammering some boards on the windows that they disturbed a hornet's nest. They were jumping around and yelling for us to stay inside.

Eventually my father sold the place to a friend and they followed the other artists to Rockport and Provincetown.

Sketch for a New Yorker Cover

They actually did this years ago....Margaret trying to sell yet another cover to the New Yorker.