Sunday, September 05, 2004

Son of a Beach

According to a piece written by Charles Leadbetter, titled “Beach party," the whole idea of going to the beach to hang out originated in Britain.

"The idea that going to the beach was good for you was a creation of 18th-century Britain. Entrepreneurs keen to promote an alternative to the spa hit upon the idea that immersing people in cold salty water might be healthy. One of the first recorded bathing expeditions took to the North sea at Scarborough in 1627. A century later, a string of seaside alternatives to the spas at Bath and Buxton were well established. Before that, beaches had been regarded as hostile places, at best a working space for people who made their living from the sea: fishermen, smugglers, wreckers. Swimming for pleasure, and sunbathing, were unheard of."

Son of a beach.

Via Arts & Letters Daily.

Posted by John Venlet on 09/05 at 09:02 AM
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