How the beach transformed to a vacation destination

The modern acceptance of the beach for recreation and retreat came with the rise of the urban, industrial society.

Around the mid-18th century, European elites started to promote the seaside as a place to get fresh air, exercise and sea bathing. Doctors prescribed splashing in the ocean for conditions such as melancholy, rickets, leprosy, gout, impotence, tubercular infections, menstrual problems and hysteria.

The first seaside resort opened in Scarborough on England's eastern shore. Soon other coastal communities followed.