Just a year after this picture was taken in 1905, the Linwood Hotel burned to the ground. It was built in 1877, the third major hotel to be built — after the Pigeon Cove House in 1871 and the Ocean View House in 1871 — as Pigeon Cove became a popular summer resort in the late 1800s. It stood on Point De Chene Ave. at Andrews Point, where Linwood Ave. intersects it.

The 1896 book, Pleasure Drives Around Cape Ann, describes these hotels:

We hurriedly look over the pretty cottages and admire the graceful winding avenues, and soon are in the vicinity of the hotels, the largest of which is the Pigeon Cove House. In 1866 Mrs. Norwood retired from the house, after keeping it acceptably many years. Mrs. Ellen S. Robinson took the house in 1871, as owner and hostess, and soon moved the old house from its site and built on the same spot a larger and more attractive one. It is a spacious and convenient building, and enjoys an excellent reputation.

In the same spring, too, the Ocean View House was erected and immediately opened for visitors. It is but a few minutes’ walk from the Pigeon Cove House, and commands a fine view of the ocean. A large annex was subsequently built to this hotel.

Down on the extreme point, in a grand location, is situated the Linwood Hotel, and the ocean breezes and views enjoyed from its piazzas are much appreciated dining the heated term.

A much better description of the Linwood is provided in the 1881 book, The North Shore of Massachusetts Bay, An Illustrated Guide:

The only hotel at the point is the Linwood. Its location is one of the most romantic and picturesque on the coast. It stands within two hundred feet of the water, on a high cliff overlooking the ocean, with Massachusetts bay on one side and Ipswich bay on the other. From the top of the house the panorama is grand beyond description. The whole shore to Rockport village, and, beyond it, Straitsmouth and Thatcher’s on one side, the Salvages, and the open sea in front, and the white sands of Ipswich bay, Mt. Agamenticus and the Isles of Shoals, on the other, are plainly visible. The house is of recent and modern construction, and is heated by furnace. Mr. James Hurd is proprieter.

Sadly, the Linwood was destroyed by fire in 1906, just a year after this picture.

This postcard was published by the Rotograph Co. It shows a copyright of 1905 and has a postmark on the reverse dated May 10, 1905.