Item 66398 - Maiden's Cliff, Camden, ca. 1935

Item 66398 - Maiden's Cliff, Camden, ca. 1935
Contributed by Boston Public Library
Item 66398
Maiden's Cliff, Camden, ca. 1935
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Maiden's Cliff is part of Camden Hills State Park, with views of Megunticook Lake and its surrounding woods and countryside. It is a very popular destination for tourists and is easily recognizable by the white cross standing on the top of the 800-foot cliff.

The white cross on top of Maiden's Cliff is a memorial to Elenora French, an 11-year old girl who fell off the cliff on May 7, 1864. The story goes that she climbed the cliff along with her older sister, friends, and teacher when a sudden gust of wind blew her hat off.

According to the story Elenora successfully caught her hat and sat on a rock near the edge of the cliff but while she was putting it back on, another gust of wind pushed her off the edge, falling 300 feet down. Though still alive when the party that Eleanora had been hiking with climbed down to get to her and she did not even sustain any broken bones but died the next day of internal injuries.

The Tichnor Brothers printing company published this type of postcard circa 1938 as part of their Maine series. These, and other postcards, by the Tichnor Brothers Company are officially known as the Tichnor Gloss Series because the photographs were notoriously retouched on such a level that does not allow the postcards to be classified as photographs or paintings. The caption reads, "Maiden's Cliff and Lake Megunticook, Camden, Maine."

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