Newland House Museum

Newland House Guest Room

In the guest room many travelers have spent the night on their way to other parts of the county. In those days it was common practice to have a guest room near the front door for passing strangers to stay the night.

Henry Huntington was one of those guests who spent the night with the Newlands.

A washstand would have provided guests a means of washing up before diner. The yellow bowl and pitcher set is very old, but the electric light is a reproduction and not old. The dress shown in the picture above is part of the Huntington Beach Historical Society's collection of clothing. The door on the left is a small closet.

Since there was only one dirt road here at the time (Beach Blvd.) into this area, travel depended on the weather, for it could be very easy to get stuck in the mud in those horse-drawn wagons.

It was also a way to communicate with neighboring farms up and down the area, to let then know what was doing in Huntington Beach, since at the time there were no radios, TVs, internet, and newspapers were few and far between.

Can you picture your mother and her girls friends wearing either of these two wool bathing suits to our beach today? But this is just the kind of bathing attire ladies wore to the beach in the 1920s.

 

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