Stereoviews - Location Help

Hi. I've a grouping of stereoviews that are unmarked as to maker and location. They show a town, churches, a dock area with large sailed ships, saw mill, and railroad cars. The only identifying clues i've found is one railroad car that says Sheridan's Mill and has a makers tag from a company in Georgia. There is a view not shown with a photographers traveling wagon that says Southern Photographic Association. A google search turns up nothing appropriate. I'd say the time frame on these pictures is late 1860's to mid 1870's.

My wild guess is it could be Savannah Georgia.

 

Well, it *might* be Savannah - port, obviously busy and including major rail facilities. But that "town" picture looks kind of shabby for as long as Savannah would have been in existence in the 1870's. It wasn't burned down by Sherman either, if you were thinking that might explain conditions. Now if it had pictures of cotton bales on the railroad car, that would make more sense for the times.

 

Interesting... there is a Southern Photographic Association in the U.K., apparently. And I found a notice of a U.S. association of that name being formed in 1913. This appears to predate that.

 

The photos remind me of Galveston, but I don't know how much Galveston and other Southern cities look alike.

I would think a railway car and a traveling wagon could have been from quite a distance from the town in the photos, so may not help that much?

 

Boy, this is a pain. This is the 2nd time I have written this message. The first time I forgot I wasn't logged in. Of course it didn't post until I signed in. When I signed in the &$@)(;: message vaporized!!! Nowwww let me see if I can remember the points I was trying to tell.

With lumber and Georgia, Savannah is certainly a good possibilty because Georgia like Alabama and Mississippi are big suppliers of pine, lumber, pulp. In fact today the biggest cash crop in Mississippi is pulp wood. Pine forests covers much of the state. Also Savannah is the only real seaport in GA. The rub here is that those views of the town, stores, streets certainly is not Savannah. Those views look like a frontier town. As Baker pointed out Savannah was a well established city by the Civil War. It had sidewalks with some of their streets bricked or cobblestoned. In fact by the 1820s it was the 18th largest city in the country. I suspect these pics were taken for a lumber related business. That buisness was probably the Sheridan's Mill that owned that railroad equipment.

I have a feeling these 2 stereoviews are not of the same place. The one on the left could be of a smaller town out in the country near where the logging was done. Possibly it was up the river, inland, from Savannah. The stereoview on the right is the seaport (possibly Savannah) where the lumber was taken for shipment to wherever. The right stereoview is of a much more cosmopolitan place. The church is bigger with a well made fence and sidewalks. The view to the left of that church is a cemetery. I'm not sure but I think the graves are above ground in New Orleans fashion because of a high water level. I haven't researched Savannah cemeteries, but I would not be surprised if above ground burials were necessary there also.

Following are links to stereoviews of Savannah with some in the same timeframe as these. I have only looked at a few. There are some of their port shipping, river, area as well as streets, cemeteries and churches. You might look though them for any like yours. Link to the pages are at the bottom of each page. They are on the Savannah College of Art & Design website.

Page 1 - Streets, cemeteries:
http://ecollections.scad.edu/iii/cp...ernal?lang=eng&sp=1000003&sp=0&sp=1&suite=def

Page 2 - Cemeteries, churches, downtown:
http://ecollections.scad.edu/iii/cp...ernal?lang=eng&sp=1000003&sp=1&sp=1&suite=def

Page 7 - Scroll down a little for views of Riverfront, ships, ..:
http://ecollections.scad.edu/iii/cp...ernal?lang=eng&sp=1000003&sp=6&sp=1&suite=def

--- Susan

 

From what I understand Florida railways were really getting started in the 1860s connecting Florida to the north. Luxury hotels were being built in the 1880s and 90s. With the timing and the proximity of Florida to Georgia it may be worth looking into. Just a thought, I may be way off.

 

Well, I did say wild guess. I decided to follow the southern photographic association angle with a broad search and lucked into a listing from Cowans for three stereoviews. One card is a later production/mount version of the card I have, showing the wagon.

https://www.bidsquare.com/l/115/photographers-work-southern-us-lot-three-stereoviews

I guess the person putting the listing together didn't remember what was on the side of the wagon correctly. The picture doesn't enlarge much at all for me so I can't really tell.

So... Pensacola, Flordia? Nice guess, UserUnknown. I'm seeing some imagery that's matching up already with a quick google search.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to look/comment.

 

Good find!