Let's start a thread featuring scans of the front and back of older lighthouse post cards.

Set the image size to 500 pixels in width and the resolution to 72 or 75 dpi. Scan both the front and back.


Here's a card of Montauk Point I picked up at an antique store today for $2.50. As I recall, Bob Scroope has a photo taken from this same spot about 50 years later. Click here to view it.





Postmarked Southhampton NY August 16, 1951. The Message reads "Hi, Wish you & your sister could feel this wonderful breeze! It sure is a contrast to Room 204! See you soon. Dot Firpey"

What would my posts be without an image of Fort Gratiot lighthouse in Port Huron, MI?





Postmarked Port Huron MI, July 30, 1940: "Dear Aunt Ruth, How are you? Hot in Sharon? It's been quite hot here, even. No news from anybody including St.P. A dead silence. Still expecting Ivan's the first of Aug. but haven't heard definitely. Let me know how you are. Lots of love, Lettia"

Gee, that second card came from the days when the mail carriers could actually figure out who lived where and get the mail to them. When the telephone operator probably knew who you were, and could connect you to "the little restaurant on the corner of Main St and Sycamore St". Ah, the days when people used their common sense and good old fashioned thinking skills when they did their jobs.

Dave

I have a nice lot. I'll try to post some. Great idea for a thread!

Postmarked August 23, 1907 Nyack, NY

We used to walk to this lighthouse on the ice last winter. It is just across the river from Nyack

shirin

Shirin - you need to use the free image file storage at www.LighthouseKeepers.com/uploads/how_to_upload.htm


Here's a beautiful unused card featuring "Two Lights and Cape Elizabeth Life Saving Station, Portland Harbor Me."





"A Tichnor Quality View, Boston"

Compare that view to today's - really like the old view without all the houses you find now!

Wasn't it a surprise that Shirin would post a pic of Tarrytown and John of Fort Gratiot?????

Here are some guidelines as to the age of your postcards:

Undivided Back circa 1901-1907
Divided Back circa 1907-1915
White Border circa 1915-1930
Linen circa 1935-1955
Chrome circa 1945 to present

Thanks, Mike... That is helpful.


Old Point Loma Lighthouse referred to as "Old Spanish Lighthouse, built 1850, Point Loma, San Diego, California". This is a Cape Cod style lighthouse; I don't know why it was thought of as an "Old Spanish Lighthouse" since Spain did not possess the area at the time it was built.






The caption on the back reads:
"The Old Spanish Lighthouse on Point Loma built in 1850 still stands in a remarkable state of preservation. It is a popular point of interest to tourists, situated on an elevation overlooking the beautiful blue Pacific."

"Pub. by herz post cards, San Diego Calif."

Note that the Fresnel lens does not appear in this image. This is probably a painting, not a photograph as is the same case with the other cards I've posted above.

Mouth of Oswego River, showing Fort Ontario, Oswego, N.Y.






Postmarked Aug 21, 1911

Message:

Dear Sister: - We arrived at Oswego O.K. have been very busy since we reached here. Erving (?) expects to go to work tomorrow. He has been helping settle. When are you coming to see us. Hope it will be soon. This is a dandy country, we like it real well. Write soon. Frances
Oswego, R.F.D. No 2


Good thing Frances and Erving aren't in Oswego now. With all the snow that's there I don't think they'd think it was too dandy!

The lighthouse pictured is no longer there. It is the original 1822 light that was relocated from Ft. Ontario to the inner harbor and subsequently destroyed.

(The card is better than my crappy scan! )

You can see a better picture of this light along with the outer harbor light (location of present lighthouse) here:

http://www.coastalguardians.com/oswego.html

Thought I'd post these as a pair. The top light was replaced by the lower light. See Rondout Lighthouse History for more information on these lights.

The backs of both of these cards are rather uninteresting thus I will not bother posting them.

shirin

Here is another view of the old Rondout Lighthouse.


And here is Mrs. Murdock inside the lighthouse. She was the keeper of the lighthouse for some 50 years.

Peck's Ledge, South Norwalk, CT

shirin

It appears that the image of the old Rondout Lighthouse is reversed on either Shirin's or Mike's card.

Here is a postcard of the Sturgeon Bay Light. This postcard has the lighthouse plus the coast guard station.

Here is a card that is similar to the one Sue posted of Oswego. This one also has the Life Saving Service (LSS) surfmen practicing in the water.

That Sturgeon Bay card also shows the USLSS, Bryan.

Minot's Ledge Light From the back of the card:

"Minot's Ledge Light
Minot's Ledge Light is one of the many lights in the Massachusetts Bay and is situated at the entrance of Boston Harbor, between Scituate and Nantasket Beach. Was sold to the United States in 1847. Was rebuilt in 1860.

Pub by The New England News Company, Boston Mass."

Noank Lighthouse also known as Morgan's Point Lighthouse.

shirin

Noank by daylight.


Noank by night.

Has anyone ever been to this lighthouse? I forgot to look for it when we were in CN in the fall of '01. As it was deactivated in 1918 and sold in 1922 Mike's cards must be from before and Shirin's after.

Chances are Mike has every card that anyone else cares to post, and then some!

Can we come up with a few he doesn't have???

Morgan\'s Point Lighthouse

go to this site for a recent pic of the lighthouse. I've seen it during a boat cruise but it was easier to point to a website than hunt for my own pics.

shirin

What is nice about old lighthouse cards is that you can see when changes were made in the building, something replaced or torn down or as in the case of Morgan's Point, something added. If you look at the roof in Shirin's card which is a linen card probably from the 1940's you can see that dormers were added to the attic area as well as the lantern room removed.

Here's one of the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse at Crown Point, NY on Lake Champlain.



The original 1858 stone tower was replaced with this memorial light in 1912. The 1858 keepers house pictured remained until 1929. At that time a bridge connecting Crown Point, NY and Chimney Point, VT was completed and navagational aids placed on the bridge. The lighthouse was taken out of service and the keepers house destroyed.

As this card is unused, these facts help to narrow down the age of the card.

Here is a recent (2000) shot of the lighthouse. The stonework in the base of the light is from the original tower.

Love those "Big Letter" cards. Here's a Port Huron one featuring Fort Gratiot lighthouse in the "P". Linen finish (1935-1955) "Genuine Curteich-Chicago" and "Smith News Agency, Port Huron, Mich." on the back.



.

I added a link to the very first post in this thread so you can view Bob Scroope's photo that is almost identical to the image on that Montauk post card.

Here's an example of an 'undivided back' post card which according to Mike's table is from the 1901-1907 era. Again Fort Gratiot Lighthouse from Port Huron Mich.

Under the picture labeled "Gratiot Light, St. Clair River" and "Copyright 1902 by Detroit Photographic Co." A handwritten note "Be a good girl C."





Note the two postmarks. top left: "PT. HURON & DET. R.P.O. TR 9 JUL 25 1906" and bottom right "WORTHINGTON OH JUL 26 1906"

This card was postmarked on a "Railway Post Office Car" on the Port Huron & Detroit Railroad Line - probably on Train #9. It arrived the next day at the destination. Not bad for 1906: overnight service for just a penny. Today that overnight service, if available, would be $13.65. Of course a post card would only be 23 cents now vs. one cent then.

Interesting about the color change on Montauk. It seems that in older days the stripe was red and that at a later date it was changed to a maroon color. I am currently working on a cross stitch project that features real lighthouses. The color of the stripe on the Montauk light is to be done in red, not maroon. I wondered about that until I saw this first postcard.

Interesting about that double postmark John. This is turning out to be a very informative thread! There is a fairly nearby postcard club here. Maybe if I joined it I could learn even more. They sponsor a show every year. I went a couple years back and they had quite a few dealers and I picked up some cards at quite reasonable prices.

Actually there is an antique shop nearby that I'm going to revisit today to see if I can find some more cards. We have yet one more sunny, warmer day today. Good day for a walk in the nearby park and then hit the shop!

John --- There are some people who only collect postcards with Railroad cancels.

Anybody have a link to a list of Post Card shows and dates?

It's here somewhere John, Shirin just posted it someplace.

(The walk was nice and I've got more cards! )

Here is a lighthouse card that I have , but it really wasn't a lighthouse. It was a ride in a amusement park in England in the early 1900's.

Very cool, Mike. I wonder what the origin of the term 'Helter Skelter' is? It was the title of Vincent Buglioso's book about the Tate-LaBianca murders in LA and the title of a Beatles song, I believe.

This obviously pre-dates both. What date is there for that post card -- or the ride?

Strangly enough, John, check out definition #3:

http://www.wordreference.com/English/definition.asp?en=helter-skelter

Sure looks like it fits the bill here.

Otherwise, Merriam-Webster ( http://www.m-w.com ), says it's "perhaps from Middle English skelten to come, go"

What a wonderful topic. I enjoyed each and every post. I have one old card that my aunt found in a shop and then wrote on the back of it before sending it to me! No scanner here.

I was checking out the show dates and came up with an interesting one-

GARDEN CITY, NY-Apr 5, 6—The Long Island Autumn Antiquarian Book Fair, Garden City Field House, 295 Stewart Ave. Flamingo Promotions, PO Box 57, Northport, NY 11768 (631) 261-4590

I now know why I have such a problem getting to events on Long Island- it's obviously in another dimension, or hemisphere.

Dennis

John, I did some research on the Helter Skelter Lighthouse. My card dates to 1907, but I found a web site with some information about this ride. It seems to be quite popular.

All The Fun Of The Fair

There are several of theses rides

http://www.fun-fairs.co.uk/visitors/visitors/mwa05.html

http://www.fun-fairs.co.uk/visitors/rc/a01.html

I think some of the fun is trying to narrow down the date of the cards when there is no postmark. We have the ranges that Mike furnished. Then some sleuthing is required to further determine the age by the appearance of the lighthouse.

One further question: Do we know the approximate date that the modern cards became so large? At some point the average card has grown to approximately 4"x6" or a bit larger.

OK -- Sooner or later I had to do it.
So here it is!!

The Hudson City Lighthouse circa 1905
Notice the ladder which is now to the rear of the lighthouse was on the south side back then.


With the Hudson-Athens Ferry

I've run out of antique cards... Anybody else got some to post?

Here is another that isn't really a lighthouse, but a great card.
One of my favorites.

That one brought a to my face!

Here's a link with another photo of that lighthouse -- called "the swankiest service station in the country" and other old-time service stations.

http://www.agilitynut.com/gas4.html

Sue, Montauk was originally all white. In 1900 Montauk received it's brown band midway up the white tower, and in 1903 the first-order lens was replaced with a 3.5 order bivalve "clamshell" lens. The band is still brown but may appear to be all those derivations of brown/red/maroon you noticed due to lighting or the artists interpretation.
Bob

1930-1935? No cards during this time frame because of depression or ????

Thanks Bob, as I was just re-visiting this thread I was thinking that may have been the story as to the different colors of the band! So we aren't going to come up with any pcs of Montauk w/o the band.

Here's an early view of the lighthouse:

http://www.newsday.com/extras/lihistory/vault/montaukp.htm

From the caption on that image:

Wonder if you could get paid for building a bogus lighthouse by just having an artist paint one and sending in the picture to the federal government?

I have an pc image Sue but I'm having trouble downloading it.

I could swear I've seen a Montauk postcard WITHOUT the stripe. Dang. I wish I could remember where exactly I saw it.

If anyone is interested the Long Island Chapter has about 8 or so old postcards up on our site (some of the scans are fuzzy, but you'll get the idea).
See http://www.lilighthousesociety.org/historicalcollection/default.htm (go to the bottom of the page for links).