Mrs. Rose Frost lived in Claremont, the only city in Sullivan County of west-central New Hampshire.
Settled by farmers from Connecticut who were seeking good agricultural land in the colonial era, Claremont prospered through the 19th century from a variety of mills on Sugar Creek and the Connecticut River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont,_New_Hampshire
In December of 1912, Rose received a Christmas postcard from Carrie Wyman.
Carrie mailed the postcard from Melvin Mills, now a populated place about 25 miles southwest of Claremont.
Melvin Mills was a stop on the Concord and Claremont Railroad, about half-way between these cities.
The railroad was abandoned by the middle of the 20th century and the Post Office in Melvin Mills closed in 1955.
https://www.nashuacitystation.org/station/new-hampshire/merrimack/warner/melvin
Melvin Mills now lies within the postal region of Warner, NH.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner,_New_Hampshire
The face of the postcard bears a medallion drawing of a rural home along a stream on which geese or swans are gliding.
To the drawing is affixed a medal bearing the inscription, “25 Dec.”
This medal is heavier than the stamped card – as though a thin metal film had been applied.
Large poinsettias dominate the middle of the face, beneath which is the printed greeting – “A Merry Christmas”.
The postcard bears a publisher’s mark of a small postman at a mailbox; the card was printed in Germany.
Carrie inscribed her name and the date at the bottom of the face – which I was (in this instance) glad to see.
The postmark is too faint to discern the date, and the initial of Carrie’s surname on the reverse could be mistaken for an “M” or some other initial.
In her message, Carrie thanks Rose “for the pretty cards” and promises “I will mail a letter very soon.”
Carrie extends a seasonal blessing, “Hoping you may have a very happy Xmas and New Year also.”
We hope that Carrie fulfilled her promise of a letter, that she and Rose enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, and that the friends exchanged many more pretty cards.
