Harvest time

A beautiful cabinet card recently came into the Local History Room, part of a larger collection. While the contrast in the original is a little faded (and has been adjusted in this scan), the image is otherwise perfect, and the subject — harvesting the cranberry crop — could not be more timely.

Cranberry harvest, possible around 1900
Cranberry harvest, possible around 1900

This close-up shows men, women and children at work, dressed more formally than we might expect for such manual labor.

Detail of cranberry harvest, possibly around 1900
Detail of cranberry harvest, possibly around 1900

But where is this bog?  It could be almost anywhere: the blank back of the cabinet card yields no clues.  A little sleuthing through the photograph collections however, turns up a second copy, much more worn but bearing a typed caption that tells us that this is indeed a Kingston location.

Keith & Adams Cranberry Bog, Kingston, Mass. possibly around 1900
Keith & Adams Cranberry Bog, Kingston, Mass. possibly around 1900