Vintage Postcards

Several years ago, the Mister was gifted some vintage postcards by his Mother.  These postcards have been in his family for years and are mostly from places in the United States.

If you will remember from my post on my inspiration for our dining room, I am planning on redecorating several rooms in our home.  At the moment, this redecorating is slow going because we currently have one of our sons and his family living with us, so they are occupying some of the rooms that I want to decorate.  But, I'm still gathering inspiration and planning for it, in hopes that one day soon they will find their own place. Shhh, don't tell them I said that.  ;-)

My idea for one of our bedrooms is a travel theme.  While gathering inspiration, I ran across this picture.  It intrigued me because I have a collection of vintage cameras and it also showed some wonderful old photographs of landmarks from around the world, perfect for a travel theme.

Image Source

Which reminded me that the Mister had all of those vintage postcards.  So, a few days ago, I broke them out and sat down to go through them.  Among them I found a few that are from our hometown and I thought I would share them with you.

Greetings From Virginia -The Old Dominion State -Home of Thomas Jefferson - Monticello
On the back of the postcard:  Key To Views On Other Side -

V -	Natural Bridge
I -	Falling Springs, near Clifton Forge
R -	Mountain Lake
G -	Fairy Stone State Park
I -	Cape Henry Lighthouse, near Norfolk
N -	Glimpse of Shenandoah River
I -	Cascade in Shenandoah Nat’l Park
A -	Pinnacle Rocks, near Bluefield

V -

Natural Bridge

I -

Falling Springs, near Clifton Forge

R -

Mountain Lake

G -

Fairy Stone State Park

I -

Cape Henry Lighthouse, near Norfolk

N -

Glimpse of Shenandoah River

I -

Cascade in Shenandoah Nat’l Park

A -

Pinnacle Rocks, near Bluefield

W-12 Main Street Looking East, Wytheville, VA.
{There is nothing on the back of this card and no date as to when it was published but judging by the automobiles in the photograph I would guess it is the 1940s.  Our little town still looks quite similar today.  We live in the County seat with a population of around 8,200 people, according to the 2010 census, covering an area of around 14.3 square miles.  The town was named in honor of George Wythe, the "father of American Jurisprudence" and signer of the Declaration of Independence.}

W-3 U.S. Post Office, Wytheville, VA
{There is nothing on the back of this card either and no date as to when it was published.  This building is no longer used as our post office, however.  A new building was erected further up the street, and in my opinion, it is no where near as lovely as this building.  I am quite fond of the architecture of this building and am happy that it is still being used today as offices for our local Housing Authority.}

Canoeing In Hungry Mother State Park, Virginia - 72
{There is nothing on the back of this card but the photograph states that it was taken in 1972.  It is of a couple fellows canoeing on the lake in a neighboring town from ours.  This lake has a little beach area for swimmers and is a great year round retreat.  As a matter of fact, the Mister and I spent a few days in a cabin at this Park for a second honeymoon, of sorts, after we renewed our wedding vows on our 10th Anniversary.  It was a very primitive cabin with no phone and no tv, just us and nature.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.}

I feel sure that some of these postcards will make it into my decorating scheme.  The difficult part will be choosing which ones to use, there are so many.  What I have shared here is a very small portion of the nearly hundred postcards.  It makes one wonder which family member of the Mister's was collecting these and if they traveled to these places themselves.  Some of them were mailed and have messages on the back, but most all of them are just blank cards.  Either way, they were once treasured, so what better way to pay homage to the Mister's family, than to have them become a treasured part of our decor.