Miss Caroline Christoffel (Christophel) lived in Edgerton, a village along the St. Joseph River in Williams County – in the extreme northwest corner of Ohio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgerton,_Ohio

In October of 1926, Caroline received a postcard from Maude.

Maude mailed the postcard from Philadelphia, the largest city – and center of commerce, transportation, industry, and education – in southeast Pennsylvania.

Although Maude had traveled to the City of Brotherly Love, her postcard did not reflect that place.

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The face of the postcard is a lovely view of two automobiles chugging along a winding road through low hills.

One can see that the road has been improved; it appears to have been paved or graveled, and a wooden fence provides a rudimentary guardrail.

The roadway is still narrow, however, and our autos will have to use the shoulders to avoid collision.

The image is titled, “Scene Near Chardon O.”, which is Chardon, Ohio.

Chardon is a small city, near Cleveland and Lake Erie, in northeast Ohio.

Chardon is with in the “snow belt” of winter precipitation from the Great Lakes, and has recorded very large snowfalls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chardon,_Ohio

I suspect that Chardin is the home of Maude, and that she brought the postcards with her.

It is unlikely that this picture depicts an actual place near Chardon – rather, that it is a generic scene to which a local printer has printed a name.

The postcard is from the publisher’s “Series 839 Landscapes”.

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On the reverse, Maude begins her message without a greeting.

She reports, “I arrived in Philadelphia last night at 5:50.”

The trip seems to have been enjoyable, as Maude shares further, “Had a fine trip, the mountains are wonderful”.

(This would be the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains that cross western Pennsylvania.)

I believe that Maude traveled by train, as one could take a train from most places in Ohio to reach Philadelphia – in those wonderful days of reliable passenger railroads.

We have no clues about the purpose of Maude’s trip, or of her relationship to Caroline.

Caroline preserved the postcard in very good condition throughout her life.

One hopes that Maude returned safely to her home, and maintained a lively postcard exchange with her friends.

NOTE

I have not found a full genealogical record for Caroline.

I have discovered that Caroline Christophel was born in 1904, near Cincinnati.

She never married, but was employed as a “clerical worker’ in the “greeting card industry”.