Fall River Line Advertisement
Fall River Line Advertisement
The Fall River Line operated a fleet of lavishly appointed steamers that plied the coastal waters of southern New England, connecting New York, Boston, and points between. The line’s “night boat” service, carried on by steamers like the Plymouth, advertised here departed from the piers of lower Manhattan at dinnertime for an overnight trip up Long Island Sound to Fall River, where passengers could connect with trains to Boston or smaller steamers that ran from New Bedford to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The Fall River Line did not serve the Islands directly but–along with the Old Colony and New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads, it formed part of a transportation network that made the Vineyard accessible to residents of every major city in southern New England. From the end of the Civil War to the beginning of World War II, summer vacations on Martha’s Vineyard depended on travel by train and steamer and (for most vacationers) took place in resort hotels, guest houses, and second homes built within easy reach of the steamer wharfs. Only with the post-1945 development of highways and “roll-on/roll-off” ferries like the Islander (1950) did car-based tourism become the norm.
DETAILS
| Title | Fall River Line - New York and Boston |
|---|---|
| Date | c. 1900 |
| Type | Advertisement |
| Ref No | RU 131 |
| Thematic Collection | 100 Years, 100 Stories: Getting Here |