Brewster Historical Society presents An Evening with Jay Gitlin, Author and Historian

Family Vacationlands in the Fifties: Why We Loved Cape Cod. The Ford Motor Company began to market its station wagon as a vacation vehicle in 1947. The first Holiday Inn opened in 1953. Though motels and station wagons have longer histories, the intersection of various trends—the postwar baby boom, a robust economy that truly served as a rising tide across class lines, and a marketing effort that targeted suburban households—produced a dynamic increase in family vacations.