Polly and Mary Fritz were on a trip to New England.
From their message, it appears that they lived in Union Mills, an unincorporated community in northern Maryland that was founded around an historic 18th century mill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Mills,_Maryland
In July of 1931, they sent a postcard to Mr. Joe Bankert of Westminster, Maryland.
Westminster is a city in northern Maryland, the seat of Carroll County and the first site of Rural Free Delivery of mail in the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster,_Maryland
The face of the postcard is an illustration of the Steamer, “Quebec”.
The steamer carried passengers on the St. Lawrence River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence_River
In the 1930’s steamers were still an important part of the transportation system.
A very readable account of the age of steam can be found here:
https://clarkesteamship.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/chapter-2.pdf
Here are two excerpts about the “Quebec” from this work:
“…by 1916 the Canada Steamship Lines publication “Niagara to the Sea” listed the following passenger ships, now including several seagoing vessels in addition to the traditional lake and river craft:
Toronto-Montreal Division: Kingston, Toronto, Rapids Prince, Rapids King
Montreal-Quebec Division: Montreal, Quebec
Saguenay Division: Saguenay St-Irenée, Syracuse, Tadousac
Montreal-PEI-Nova Scotia Division: Cascapedia
New York-Bermuda Division: Bermudian, Evangeline
New York-West Indies Division: Guiana, Parima, Korona”
” the 3,498-ton Quebec, although registered as a new ship in 1907, had actually been built on the
original hull that supported the Quebec of 1865.”
This postcard was mailed from Lynn, an old city in northeast Massachusetts whose Colonial Era shoe factories provided footwear for the Continental Army in the American Revolution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn,_Massachusetts
Steamship travel between American cities on the east coast and the maritime provinces of Canada was a popular summer vacation for prosperous Americans until the Great Depression.
The postcard does not tell us if Polly and Mary had made an excursion on the “Quebec”, nor what their itinerary might have been.
The burden of their message is largely that they saw a car like the one owned by Joe Bankert.
One hopes that Mr. Bankert was glad to hear from the travelers and that Polly and mary shared amny more stories when they returned to Union Mills.
