by Jerry McCoy
Recently the Silver Spring Historical Society accessioned through purchase an incredibly rare and important photograph, the earliest known image of the "silver" spring taken over 140 years ago.
Known as a stereo view card, the photograph is actually one of a pair that was taken by a single camera with two lenses. The lenses were spaced about two and a half inches apart, the average distance between a person's eyes. The two black and white photographs are mounted side by side onto a 3 1/4" by 6 3/4" heavy card that is viewed using a device called a stereoscope. This viewer allows the user's eyes to blend the two images into one, which enables the brain to perceive the image in three dimensions.
Right half of 1865 stereo view card showing the site of the Silver Spring. Copyright 2009 Silver Spring Historical Society.
Readers "of a certain age" who had a toy called a View-Master probably remember the thrill of looking at 3-D images of locations photographed from around the globe and the feeling of actually standing in that place. Thus was the popularity of the stereoscope when it became popular in the United States in the late 19th century and could be found in almost every home. Stereoscopes, and the hundreds of thousands of stereo view cards that the public purchased to view, fell out of popularity by the 1920s when supplanted by other forms of popular entertainment such as radio and motion pictures.
When I first viewed the stereo view card in my 1901 Underwood & Underwood wood and metal stereoscope, the feeling of going back in time to the 1860s and seeing what today's Acorn Park, location of the spring at the intersection of East-West Highway and Newell Street, looked like then was thrillingly palpable.
Suddenly I was transported to a bucolic setting of towering trees hovering over three people sitting on what appeared to be a wooden church pew that is positioned on a slight rise overlooking the spring site. Closest to me is a young boy of about ten wearing a hat. Next to him is a slightly older girl wearing a long white dress. Squeezed onto the pew next to her is a much older bearded man, also wearing a hat. All three are looking across a short distance at an opening set into a lower embankment that is surrounded on three sides by a stone surround...the very same stone surround, or grotto, that is there today!
Same view as it appeared in 1917. The white dairy house, through which the spring water flowed, remains. The ca. 1850 acorn-shaped gazebo appears on the left but was just missed being included in the 1865 photo. Photo by Willard R. Ross. Collection of Jerry A. McCoy.
Therein lays a major historical correction that must be made.
As documented on p. 27 of my book "Historic Silver Spring" (Arcadia Publishing, 2005), I had theorized that this stone surround protecting the fabled spring opening was constructed in 1894. This year was arrived at due to the fact that it is carved into the base of the stone surround. Opposite "1894" are the initials "SPL," standing for Samuel Phillips Lee. Lee was the husband of Elizabeth Blair Lee whose father, Francis Preston Blair, discovered the spring in 1840 and two years later started construction of his country estate "Silver Spring" (named after the spring's mica-flecked water that "sparkled like silver" when struck by the sun).
Same view as it appeared in 2005. The dairy house is long gone and the topography has been considerably altered, a result of a 1955 landscaping. Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.
Thus, here was definitive proof derived from a circa 1860s photograph that the spring's stone surround was at least three decades older than what I had surmised it to be. You might be asking about now, "And how do you know this photo was taken in the 1860s?"
Initially the dealer from whom the society purchased it, a well-known and respected antiquarian photography authority, proffered the time period of the image. He told me that he based the stereo view card as being published in the 1860s due to the type of photographic paper used, the card stock, and the clothing that the individuals were wearing. When the card was received there was one other important clue embossed on the card that provided further evidence of the time period that the image was taken...the name of the photographer, Fred C. Low.
1901 Underwood & Underwood stereoscope holding the 1865 Silver Spring stereo view card. Photo by Jerry A. McCoy
Mr. Low was a New England photographer working out of Bangor, ME and Cambridge, MA. Born ca. 1837 in Maine, Low was serving in the 18th Infantry, later the 1st Regiment, Main Heavy Artillery, by 1862 during the start of the Civil War. According to the National Park Service's "Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System" database, Low's 1st Regiment was present at the Siege of Petersburg, June 16, 1864 to April 2, 1865. I think it no coincidence that there exists a stereo view card credited to Low titled "Troops Entering Petersburg, [VA] Apr. 2, 1865," this caption being neatly hand printed on the lower right edge of the stereo view card.
Low's regiment also saw duty in Washington, DC, where it moved the following month between May 9th and the 16th after the war ended with Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, VA on April 9, 1965. There the regiment remained until September 11, 1865 when its troops were mustered out and ordered to return to Bangor, ME.
Perhaps I'm again "theorizing" but my conclusion is that this stereo view card of the spring was taken in 1865. My reasoning is that Low, who by the end of the war had obtained the rank of captain and with that position certain privileges...he is stationed in Washington, DC...the war has ended...he has "down" time on his hands...he has his photography equipment...he most likely knows about both Francis Preston Blair and his son Montgomery Blair's Maryland estates (especially Montgomery whose home "Falklands" burned down during the Confederate retreat after the Battle of Fort Stevens in Washington on July 11-12, 1864)...and he gets the notion to travel the short distance out to Silver Spring. Why even the caption on the stereo view card, "Silver Spring, Near Washington," is the identical hand printing as appears on the Petersburg card.
ca. 1920s view of the Silver Spring stone surround and embankment. The Grecian nymph statue, long missing, measured about 30 inches tall. Courtesy E. Brooke Lee III.
The last enumeration for Low that I could find in the United States Census is in 1880 when he is listed as a 43-year old photographer living on Springfield Street in Somerville, MA. By the 1890 census his 26-year old daughter Mina S. Low is recorded as living in Boston on Warrenton Street and working as a photographer, a very rare profession for a woman in the 19th century.
Other stereo view photographs of Silver Spring taken by Fred C. Low might possibly exist. The Silver Spring Historical Society was incredibly fortunate to be able to return this piece of Silver Spring's history back home. I hope the community feels the same.
1997 photos of opposing engravings on stone surround sill, thought to have been installed by Samuel Phillips Lee ("SPL") in 1894. Visitors to spring site today who want to see the engravings will have to remove soil and other debris if site is dry, otherwise engravings will be under water and silt. Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.
Photograph of Captain Fred C. Low, from Company B 1st Maine Heavy Artillery taken in Gloucester, Massachusetts, ca. 1880. Courtesy Maine Historical Society.
If you know of any other stereo view cards depicting Silver Spring scenes or have additional information on Captain Fred C. Low and his daughter Mina, please contact Jerry A. McCoy at (301) 537-1253, email sshistory@yahoo.com, or write PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160. Visit the Silver Spring Historical Society web site www.sshistory.org .
I loved this! Although I haven't lived in Silver Spring in many years, a friend who still does has put me onto this site. I lived in the Falkland apartments for part of my childhood, and watched with dismay as they burned Falklands to the ground. It was my playground--I was in every room (including the attic!)and remember the fallen gardens, the ballroom (I think that's what the room was), the kitchen with the dumbwaiter, the attic with the widows watch. It was the place of little girls' dreams.I took photos of the burning--if I can find any left I will certainly send them to you. Don't hold your breath---my organizational skills leave a lot to be desired!
Jerry, It was a tremendous pleasure reading this article. Thank you once again for all you do to collect and preserve the history of Silver Spring. Your leadership is priceless! Iris
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for sharing the stereograph pix of the dairy, spring, acorn & grotto nymph.
Best wishes,
Katharine