Thomas Drew’s South Shore

Thomas Drew (1845-1913) was a country storekeeper in the town of Hanover, Massachusetts, with a fascinating photography avocation. While he used his camera skills to create postcards and souvenir china of local scenes to sell in his South Hanover store, he also found time to preserve the images of family, friends, and South Shore landmarks on his glass-plate negatives. Drew’s adult life was spent in a home on the banks of the Indian Head River in Hanover, almost across from his general store. His darkroom was his kitchen; his portrait studio, a burlap tarp hung outside. In his free time, he traveled the South Shore capturing scenes of interest to him, among them the shipwreck of the Helena in Scituate, the Stetson Shrine in Norwell, Hira Bill Bates’s gunning stand on Oldham Pond in Pembroke, the Phillips beach cottage at Brant Rock, and his father’s general store at Harding’s Corner in Hanson.