Aerial Photos, 1968, Collage
In 1968, the town of Scituate, MA, had aerial photos taken of the whole town, on April 12, 1968. The Town Archives has a set of copies, in the form of interpositives (like negatives). They are large and unwieldy sheets, about 40 inches wide. There are more than 60 interpositives. An index map helps to show what areas of town correspond with the photos, numbered CGL-xxx. The photos are not (as far as I know), georeferenced or orthographically mapped and rectified. However, they seem to be in splendid detail, perhaps as much as 1:250.
On August 24, 2022, I photographed sheets showing the North River. Thanks to the Town Archives, Jody McDonough (Town Archivist) and historian Jim Glinski for their assistance. My camera images were 3000 x 4000 ppi, but I have cropped them to the equivalent of 7" wide and 300 dpi. Then I went back for more on Sept. 7. They are below.
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It turns out that the photos don't exactly match up with the neat quadrants of the index map. Some even seem to be at different magnification levels or sizes. There are overlaps. I guess you would expect this in aerial photography. There may have been several passes over this area. A similar index map we found later confirms that the aerial photos overlapped. Some areas were missed, which someone highlighted in yellow. I think they missed chunks of Meeting House Lane and Vinal Avenue.
Below I have placed these photos approximately as in the index map.
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For more recent views of these areas, see Seacoast Scituate By Air (2022). It includes, for example, before and after photos of Peggotty Beach showing the loss of cottages due to the storm of 1978.
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At right are photos of Humarock, rotated so North is up. This series runs from CGL-139, just above and to the right. Note point of Fourth Cliff.
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These are CGL-144, 145, 146, 152, 154, 156, and 161 (top to bottom). The series continues in the center with a repeat of CGL-154.
Above: bottom right of this photo (CGL-50) slightly overlaps upper left of photo above and off to the left. It seems Old Oaken Bucket Road runs across top of this photo, and Grove Street runs down left side. Not sure this shows any of the North River.
