Wild Postcards

I know it will surprise many of my Southern friends to learn that the nation’s oldest Baptist church was built by Yankees. The First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island was founded as an organization by Roger Williams in 1638; this meeting hall was built in 1775 and today still looks much like the image above. Quahog.org has some detailed images as well as the history of the church, along with information for visitors.

I know it will surprise many of my Southern friends to learn that the nation’s oldest Baptist church was built by Yankees. The First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island was founded as an organization by Roger Williams in 1638; this meeting hall was built in 1775 and today still looks much like the image [...]

A poor quality, divided back postcard from the Photogelatine Engraving Co. Ltd. of Ottawa, probably published around 1930 (although I grant you that it has lasted 80 years fairly unscathed). It was in 1930 that the church in this (at the time) privately-owned park was completed.

To the right you can see the statue of “Evangeline,” the subject of the poem by Longfellow. The poem tells a fictionalized tale of the very real expulsion of Acadians from the Canadian Maritime Provinces — Acadia — between 1755 and 1763 by the British. A great many Acadians wound up in Louisiana, and you have doubtless heard their descendants referred to as “Cajuns”.

The Canadian government acquired the park in 1957, and today it is known as the Grand-Pré National Historical Site.

I purchased this card in Nova Scotia in 2002, in a shop not too far from the park.

A poor quality, divided back postcard from the Photogelatine Engraving Co. Ltd. of Ottawa, probably published around 1930 (although I grant you that it has lasted 80 years fairly unscathed). It was in 1930 that the church in this (at the time) privately-owned park was completed. To the right you can see the statue of [...]

This card depicts what is presumed to be the final home of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Efes (Ephesus), where Catholic tradition holds that she died.

I sent this card to my Aunt Brenda, who at that time was the keeper of the collection, in an envelope along with several other postcards. I was in Turkey courtesy of Uncle Sam, and was still in awe over the favorable exchange rates.

The notation in the lower left — “her hakki mahfuzdur” — translates roughly as “every genuine(ness) looked after”, presumably the same sentiment as “all rights reserved”. The Turkish language is not for the squeamish. (Also of note: the word is correctly spelled “hakiki”, but the publisher has spelled it as it is actually pronounced.)

Efes is also the name of a pretty good Turkish beer, which sponsors a fairly mediocre basketball team, which has some really hot cheerleaders.

(Now how did I digress from the Virgin Mary to hot cheerleaders?)

This card depicts what is presumed to be the final home of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Efes (Ephesus), where Catholic tradition holds that she died. I sent this card to my Aunt Brenda, who at that time was the keeper of the collection, in an envelope along with several other postcards. I was in [...]