Page Five

Mary Ellen Foster

This is a vintage photograph taken by the Lane Bros. Studio, Berkshire Photographic. Miss Sara Rogers and Gene Scott are in the horse drawn vehicle, during an 1890's Great Barrington winter. The location is the corner of South Street and Main Street. The fence on the left was on the property of what is now the Finnerty - Stevens Funeral Home.
On the right you can see the Searles Mansion.

This photograph was taken at approximately the same location as the

photo above, but a little higher on the hill, during the Blizzard of '96.

I found this photograph in an antique album of Berkshire Views, taken by the Lane Bros. who operated a studio in the Castle Street entrance of the Mahaiwe Block, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It was taken prior to October 24, 1895 when a fire destroyed the three buildings in the center of the picture. The building on the left succumbed to flames the following January. The building on the right housed the F. T. Whiting Drug Store. Today it is a toy store called Tom's Toys. The little building in the middle, prior to the 1895 fire, was the Post Office and during an even earlier period was known as the Little Brick Court House.