Nothing makes identifying an old photo trickier than people re-enacting earlier events. What looked to me like a remarkable 1900s-era photo (top) on eBay, turns out to be from 1947. The hairdo of the woman in the back seat gives it away. (Continued below)

On closer examination, the sign on the car says this is the 40^th anniversary (1907-1947) of the New England Hotel Assn. This photo memorializes the pioneer automobile tourists who traveled in a caravan from hotel to hotel on crude roads when recreational driving first became an American pastime. They wore "dusters" due to the dusty dirt roads. The colorized postcard (below) is the older image from about 1907. It shows the original motorists under the same entranceway at Wentworth by the Sea. (Courtesy Portsmouth Athenaeum and SeacoastNH.com)

 Photos from SeacoastNH.com archive. Visit our Wentworth by the Sea site or see hundreds of  historic photos online in HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH section.