Happy 4th Of July!

Happy 4th Of July!!!!!

Travel Tuesday - The Great Smoky Mountains

Swinging Bridge, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Summer is here.  The 100+ degree temperatures leave no doubt about the season of year.  Besides warmer temperatures, summer also ushers in the season of vacations.  Just where did my ancestors and family members vacation?  Turns out they went a lot of places and collected a lot of postcards. (Lucky me!)

These 100 degree days also leave one longing for the cooler temperatures of the NC  mountains.  The mountains were a popular spot for the vacationers in my family.

The Smoky Mountain National Park straddles the NC and TN border close to Gatlinburg, TN and Cherokee, NC.  The Smoky Mountains continues to be a popular vacation spot.  With gorgeous scenery, hiking, wildlife viewing,... there is something for everyone.

Fairy Cave - Tuckaleechee Caverns - "In The Smokies"

These postcards are from the 1950's.  I love the colors from the older postcards.

Stopped for Inspection by Native Black Bears, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

I have seen a bear in the Smoky National Park, fortunately, not this close.  The black bear I saw was up in a tree.  Once he started down, all the tourists left!  

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Postcard of Kentuck, VA

Here is another postcard from the collection of my great grandmother Esther Lee Richardson.  Kentuck, VA is located in Pittsylvania County, VA northeast of Danville.  Kentuck is also just north of Ringgold, VA. Kentuck is a small community even today.  I find it interesting that it had its own postcard back in 1913.

Alas, this is another unsigned postcard. Esther seemed to get a lot of those. Looking at the front of the card on the bottom right, it says "Gee I wish I had a girl".  That makes me wonder if the card is from an admirer.  If so, which one?  Her future husand, Bossy Talbott?  I can't say for sure.

Postcard form San Antonio, Texas

"A Driveway in Brackenridge Park. San Antonio, Tex."

This postcard is another from my great-grandmother's collection. It is postmarked 8 May 1911 in San Antonio, TX and addressed to her while she was living in Ringgold, VA. It reads:

Hello,

Received card this a.m. are getting on fine. Give all my love. I am sending D. T. [Esther's father Daniel Thomas Richardson] a paper. had a very nice Easter. write soon. By Be_j__ Elliott

I have not researched the Elliott family extensively, however I believe to be from Benjamin Elliott, a cousin to Esther. (Please note that I have not confirmed that completely.) Esther' mother Harriet was an Elliott before her marriage.

Wonder what Benjamin was doing in Texas?

Buffalo Lithia Springs, VA

Buffalo Lithia Springs, VA today is known as Buffalo Springs or Buffalo Junction and located in Mecklenburg County, VA just east of the Halifax County line. This postcard depicts one of the natural springs in the area. The postcard is addressed to Miss Esther Lee Richardson, living in Kentuck,Pittsylvania County, VA . The postmark is difficult to read but is 190_. The sender of the card was her friend "Edna". Interestingly, after her marriage to Boss Henry Talbott, Esther lived in this area of Mecklenburg County.

I do wonder if a child got hold of a pencil and used the postcard to scribble. Some things do not change over the years!

Danville, VA Postcard

This is a postcard of the Danville, VA Post Office. It is addressed to my great-grandmother Esther Lee Richardson of Ringgold, VA and postmarked 2 May 1911 from Danville. The message portion of the postcard is stained, but it is signed by Sara Henderson. Was Sara perhaps a cousin? A friend? I'll have to look into this.

By The Moonlight

And at night er'e we go to slumber so light,

We'll watch the moon rise and the stars shining bright.

It is time again to participate in another postcard carnival hosted by A Canadian Family . The theme this time is "light". I confess I had to look through many of my postcards to find one to fit the theme. I'm rather intrigued by the postcard I picked.

This card is addressed to Mr. Jonnie Boss Talbott of Jeffress, VA, my great grandfather. His given name was Johnny Hodias Talbott, but somewhere along the way he changed his name to Boss Henry or just Bossy. This card is the first time I have ever seen the combination of his old and new names used this this way.

The second thing I noticed about this card is that it was never mailed. There is no stamp or postmark. Perhaps it was delivered by it's writer or a friend. The translation is difficult as the writing is faded and with essentially no punctuation. Below is the best translation I have come up with so far.

Helow ahl Boss. How are you by this time O.K. I hope Received your card and was offal [?awful] to here from you and was so sorry that I was not down there to the dancing. You just aught to move here with us. Coming home that day we got home at 1 o'clock. Mr. J W Hopkin did not go home until new years day. From a friend _____L. Torry gave my love to all.

Lastly, I do not know the identity of the sender. In two places, the name ______ Torry appears. I have no Torry listed in my database. There is also a Mr. Hopkin mentioned in the text. Again, I do not know who this might be.

Hopefully one day the mystery of this card will be solved. In the meantime, enjoy the postcard!

Festival of Postcards

It's time for another Festival of Postcards event hosted by A Canadian Family (http://acanadianfamily.com/ ) . This month's theme is "white". Lots of ways to go with that, but as I am writing this, it is snowing outside. Well... snow mixed with sleet. Okay, more sleet than snow, but in the south, we take what we can get.

The above postcard is a Christmas postcard that was among my great-grandfather Boss Henry Talbott's things. There is no writing on the back, so I can only speculate who originally owned it and for whom it was intended. Perhaps it was bought by his wife Esther Lee Richardson (a prolific writer), but never sent. I doubt I'll ever know for sure.

This postcard caught my attention mostly because I did not immediately recognize it for a Christmas card. It does not use the more traditional themes of the season. I do like the colors, especially on the birds. The snow on the ground is likely more than I'll see this winter.

Here is a second "white" postcard I found in my collection. It is of the polar bear at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The back of this one is also blank, but no mystery here. This is one of several my mother collected on a vacation with her family.