This photograph is dated Sept. 8, 1898, and comes from the collection of Merry Seppala. It is possible that it was taken by Charles Cleaves, because the woman second from right in the black dress is Emma Cleaves, Charles’ sister. The photo was of poor quality and I tried to clean it up a bit, but the quality remains poor.

The same scene as it looks today.

It is unclear what was happening in this picture, but we do know who was in it. From left to right, they are:

• Ella Shepherd. I have not been able to find any information about her.
• Ezra Smith. I have not found any information about him.
• Emma Cleaves, age 19. Emma was the sister of Charles Cleaves, the founder of the Rockport Photo Bureau. Charles also had a brother, Ezra Eames Cleaves, who was a prominent medical doctor in Rockport.
• Margaret Tarr, age 17. Margaret later married Ezra Cleaves on Dec. 31, 1912, and became the sister-in-law of Emma and Charles.

Charles Cleaves was born in 1877, so he would have been 21 at the time of this picture.

The grave stones they are standing around are those of Caleb Norwood, who died in 1814, and his second wife, Jerusha Story Norwood, who died in 1810. Caleb was the Norwood who supposedly found pirate’s gold at Gap Gove when he was a child. (See more about that story here.)