In November of 1938, Alena was on a trip through the southern United States.
It appears that she is traveling with others as she writes, “we’re really getting along fine…”
She mailed a postcard from Savannah, the old and picturesque city on the Savannah River near the Atlantic coast in southeast Georgia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah,_Georgia
The postcard is addressed to Miss Lula Bauer of Shoemakersville, PA.
Shoemakersville is a borough of northern Berks County in east-central Pennsylvania.
(Throughout the early 20th century it was a center of the apparel industry.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemakersville,_Pennsylvania
On the face of the postcard is a photograph of a Japanese Garden, outside the De Soto Hotel in Savannah.
The De Soto Hotel, built in 1890, was one of the grandest hotels in the historic district of Savannah.
That structure closed in 1965 and was demolished.
A modern resort hotel has been erected on the site of the original De Soto.
I have attached a photograph of the original De Soto Hotel taken from the Wiki page.
This view shows more of the grand structure than the postcard view from Alena.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DeSoto
In this postcard photograph, the Japanese Garden looks new – lacking the harmony of plant placements that one finds in mature gardens.
The “Japanese Garden” seems to have been introduced in the United States by the Japanese exhibits at the Sr. Louis Exhibition of 1904 and the Panama – Pacific Exhibition of San Francisco in 1915.
There is very little literature on this subject; most contemporary Japanese Gardens in the US were developed as symbols of peace after World War II.
https://library.si.edu/image-gallery/99355
Published by the E. C. Kropp Company of Milwaukee, this postcard reflects the “new” style of linen-like postcard printing.
On the reverse, Alena reports that the “trip was tiresome”, but that the “hotel is fine”.
Alena found “the shopping is not so hot”.
The group will not stay long in Savannah – “we leave at 5:30 for Jacksonville.”
It does not appear that Alena will remain long in Jacksonville, as she promises to “write a letter from St. Petersburg.”
Lula seems to have appreciated the postcard as it was preserved in very good condition.
One hope that Alena continued to enjoy her excursion, that she composed a letter from St. Petersburg, and that the friends remained correspondents for many years.
