AA-2026-7F790B
On the image
Someone stood a good thirty feet above the water to take this picture, which tells you most of what you need to know about supervision at a 1960s swimming hole. Down below, a handful of bathers pick their way over sun-warmed granite into water gone the deep blue-black of something considerably deeper than it looks, the whole operation running on the honour system and the assumption that the rocks had already been tested by whoever swam there last summer.
There is no dock, no ladder, no posted depth, and certainly no lifeguard chair, because in this era a good swimming hole was simply a rock formation someone's older brother had vouched for. The cliff face doing double duty as both scenery and diving platform was the whole appeal, the sort of unregulated natural amenity that a state park today would fence off and post with three warning signs.
The picture is really a record of confidence rather than skill: confidence that the water was deep enough, that the rock wouldn't be slick, and that nobody watching from above needed to do anything but hold the camera steady.
Visually related — by likeness
Swimmers at a Granite Cliff Cove, 1960s. 1960–1969. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-7F790B. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/swimmers-at-a-granite-cliff-cove-1960s.
@misc{aaAA20267F790B,
title = {Swimmers at a Granite Cliff Cove, 1960s},
year = {1960–1969},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-7F790B},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/swimmers-at-a-granite-cliff-cove-1960s}
}TY - ART TI - Swimmers at a Granite Cliff Cove, 1960s PY - 1960–1969 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-7F790B UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/swimmers-at-a-granite-cliff-cove-1960s ER -
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