Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Old postcard of Port Austin, Michigan: Winter on the rocks


One of the cool things about postcards is that they can connect a tiny village in one corner of the world to a huge city in a different corner of the world.

This postcard features an icy photograph labeled "Winter on the rocks." The location is Port Austin, Michigan, a lakeshore village of fewer than 1,000 residents on The Thumb of Michigan. The village is only one square mile in size and, as of the 2000 Census, more than half of its residents declared themselves to be of either Polish or German ancestry. Port Austin is known for its farmers' market, held every Saturday from May through October. There is also a well-reviewed business that calls itself the Blue Moon Ice Cream Shoppe! (with exclamation point) on Facebook.

The icicles in this photo remind me of the 5th post in Papergreat's history — Old photo stirs up a blizzard of mystery.1

So, this postcard of little Port Austin was mailed in July 1923, with a 2-cent stamp, to Miss Grace Phelps, who at that time was in Paris, France.2 The short note, which appears to be written in cursive by a child, states:
Dear aunt Gracie,
thank you for the card. Swimmming nearly every day. Hop you are well. We are all well.
Love from Anne
Footnotes
1. This, meanwhile, is the 2,109th post in Papergreat history.
2. Grace's address was 4 Rue Eduard VII, a street that's written as Rue Édouard-VII in French. Interestingly, it appears that Grace was on a tour, and the card was first sent to Rome before being readdressed and forwarded to Paris. That's pretty good service for two cents.

No comments:

Post a Comment