This scenic (and almost certainly generic) postcard featuring a dirt road was mailed almost exactly 101 years ago — on August 24, 1915 — from Albany, Vermont.1
Albany has always been a small town. It peaked in population around 1860, with 1,200 residents. It had 920 souls in the 1910 census and 941 souls in the 2010 census. The area is described in a straightforward fashion on Wikipedia:
"The town is hilly and uneven. The highest point in town is in the northwestern part of the township, which is cut off from the main chain of the Green Mountains by a brook. Lord's Creek flows north through the eastern part of the township, having several tributaries. There are other minor streams in town. There are also several ponds, the principal of which are Great Hosmer, Hartwell, Page, Heart, and Duck ponds."The town's original name was Lutterloh and its first road was Bayley-Hazen military road, built in 1779, according to the Orleans Country Historical Society, which also notes a "large amount of smuggling in the area around 1813."
The postcard was mailed to Mrs. Mary E. Clark of Greenville, Maine (about 145 miles to the northeast, as the crow flies), and has the following message:
My dear Mrs. ClarkSo, they were working on some genealogy, it seems. There was definitely a Delia Darling Honey of Albany, Vermont. According to this website, she died on April 17, 1949, at the age of 101. This is just one tiny piece of all the hard work she did over the decades on her family history.
Your letter came to me about a month ago and I am patiently waiting waiting for some definite date regarding the family of your mother V [?] grandfather — and can you tell me any thing of Moses, (a brother of Stephen) who died in Me [Maine]. Have written Mr. Cummings.
Yours
Delia (Darling) Honey
Footnote
1. On the afternoon that this card was postmarked, the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Chicago Cubs, 5-1, in front of 5,000 fans at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Bob Fisher had a home run and three RBIs for the Cubs, Possum Whited had two hits for the Phillies, and Philadelphia pinch-hitter Bud Weiser made an out, dropping his season average to .131. (He finished the year with a surge that brought his average to .141.)
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