In the early 20th century, Webster Springs was a resort town to which visitors flocked to experience the curative powers of the salt sulfur springs.

The town is officially named, “Addison”, but the Post Office had been named after the commonly-used reference to the community.

The original settlement, at the confluence of Back Fork and the Elk Rivers, began to attract visitors as soon as the first salt sulfur wells were dug in the mid-19th century.

By 1900, an enormous hotel (larger than the Greenbrier) equipped with a variety of pools, showers, baths, spas, and tubs catered to the curious and the afflicted.

Miss Lulu Hines was staying at one of the smaller hotels that sprang up to meet the overflow demand of the Webster Springs Hotel.

Sometime in 1913 (the postmark is indistinct), Lulu received a postcard from Ross.

The face of the postcard bears an illustration of a young couple awkwardly positioned with a tree branch.

The legend states, “Kissing is the rage at” and a smaller pennant reads, “Webster Springs, W. Va.”

This is another example of a generic postcard to which an enterprising printer could affix a local place name.

On the reverse of the postcard, Ross thanks Lulu for her card, and asks “how are you by now”.

Ross is “fine and dandy only somewhat nervous”.

We don’t know anything about the source of Ross’s anxiety; he appears to be another vacationer, as the postcard was mailed from Webster Springs.

(I don’t know if people came to “take the waters” for nervous conditions.)

In closing, Ross expresses a hope to see Lulu again “before I leave”.

One hopes that Lulu was amused by the postcard and that the nervous and flirty Ross was able to see Lulu again.