A century ago, the words Rockland and shoes were synonymous. On any side
road off Union Street, the town's main thoroughfare, were some of the
most important shoe-manufacturing facilities in America, among them
Emerson Shoe, Wright Shoe, and the Hurley Brothers Shoe Company. As the
industrial revolution reigned, Rockland peaked, but Rockland had another
side to it. Postals sent from Rockland exported the innate beauty of
Reed's Pond, Cushing's Pond, and Whiting's Woods. These images proved to
those folks who had never been to the town that
even among the brick-and-mortar giants of the shoe industry, Rockland's
natural side thrived.