Tuesday, April 23, 2013

1909 postcard sent to Crab Neck, Va.: "Write me a letter, sweetheart"



This old postcard has seen better days. But we might have significant wrinkles, too, when we're 104 years old.1

My first question: Is this letter-writing woman on a ship? It seems that she is, because those sure look like portholes above her. What do you think?



Beyond the setting, what I like most about the postcard is the very notion of letter-writing. It fits in nicely with the theme of this blog and with the "lost art of letter-writing" post I had in early February.



Meanwhile, the message on the back of the card states:
Oh you Mag. how we do miss you. I certainly did hate to see you leave. I guess Cliff and you are having a good old time arn't you.
The card is postmarked August 11, 1909, in Portsmouth, Virginia.2 It was sent to Miss Maggie Mills — that would be "Mag" — who lived about 40 miles north of Portsmouth in Crab Neck in York County, Virginia.

Crab Neck is no longer Crab Neck. It's now call Seaford, which is a much less interesting name. According to Wikipedia, John Chisman began the Seaford Settlement in 1636 on 600 acres. The area was originally called Crab Neck, Crab Rock and Calamar. The Crab Neck post office was established in 1889 and changed its name to Seaford in 1910 (the year after this postcard was mailed).

Footnotes
1. I'll be 104 in December 2074. Next-generation bloggers reading this in the future should look me up!
2. August 11, 1909, is one day after the birth of famed guitar designer Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender.

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