#14: The Oldest Surviving Aerial Photo

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Gee, I wonder what the oldest surviving aerial photograph is?” Well, we have the answer for you. This bird’s eye view of Boston was taken on October 13, 1860, and is the oldest surviving photograph of its kind. This photo was taken by James Wallace Black and is called “Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It.”

James Wallace Black took this photograph in a hot air balloon that was tethered 1200 feet above Boston, Massachusetts. Taking such a photograph was a challenge at the time because exposure times were quite long. Out of the eight photos Wallace Black took that day, this was the only one that didn’t come out blurry. It’s pretty wild to see how urban Boston was almost 200 years ago.