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The Bridge, Lake Pleasant, Mass.

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Lake Pleasant in Montague, Massachusetts, was a beautifully situated campground that hosted thousands of Spiritualists at the turn of the 20th century. Spiritualists subscribed to what were for the time radical ideas such as full equality between men and women and the possibility of contacting the spiritual realm through seances and mediums. Like many other Americans in this period, the Spiritualists who spent their summers at Lake Pleasant wished to immerse themselves in natural surroundings. Lake Pleasant was one of many campgrounds to which city-dwellers flocked to escape the pressures and pollution of urban living and industrialization. This view of the bridge at Lake Pleasant highlights the clean air and tranquil waters of the lake. A fire devastated the camp at Lake Pleasant one year after this photograph was taken.

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