Summer Vacation Hasn't Changed Much

By Kimberly Totten, Collections Manager

When you travel, do you buy a souvenir like a magnet or t-shirt?

There are twenty-eight souvenir medallions on Christian Heurich's cane, suggesting this was a typical souvenir on his summer trips to Europe. Most of them came from Germany (specifically from the state of Bavaria) with a few from Austria. If you've ever visited Germany, you might recognize hiking trails or towns that are still popular today. For example, a few medallions are from Garmisch, now known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen, an alpine ski-town known for hosting the 1936 Winter Olympics. Another is a medallion from Eibsee Lake, a lake at the base of the mountain, Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany. 

Christian Heurich's cane in the Reception Room of the Heurich House Museum

Many people prefer to travel in summer for various reasons, and the Heurichs were no different. The family (Christian, Amelia, their children, sometimes accompanied by Amelia's sisters or parents) usually spent the summer at Bellevue, their dairy farm in Hyattsville. The Heurichs also made a tradition of traveling to Europe in the summer, typically spending time in Germany, Switzerland, and Czechia. Christian Heurich often visited Karlovy Vary (also known as Carlsbad) for their hot springs, which are used as spas and healing baths. In Amelia's diaries she often refers to these spa visits as "taking the water" or "taking the cure."

Amelia's Diary from July 1911: "...We reached Carlsbad about 4:30… Christian to take the waters + I am to accompany him…"

When you take vacation snapshots, what is your subject? Or who?

In 1906, the Heurichs took a family vacation to Atlantic City where they stayed at a house by the beach. This photo shows Christian Sr. and Christian Jr. (second on the left) with other family members at the beach in their swimming costumes. Many of the photos from this trip focus on people rather than the landscape, indicating that was what they wanted to remember the most.

Heurich family members on the beach during their trip to Atlantic city in 1906

How do you share your vacation with your friends? Postcard? Scrapbook? Instagram? 

 Amelia Heurich's sisters, Anna "Donna" Keyser and Augusta "Gussie" Keyser, were frequent visitors of the Heurich family and often accompanied them on their European travels. At the turn of the century, the Heurichs traveled with Anna to Leipzig, Germany, where she would stay for two years studying music. While in Leipzig, her family sent her various postcards from Germany and America alike, sharing their travels with her.