Miss Dorothy Gray lived in Chicago, the largest city and the center of business and transportation in the Midwest US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago
In June of 1928, Dorothy received a postcard from R. V. B.
The postcard was mailed from Columbia, a small city on Russell Creek in Adair County of south-central Kentucky.
During the Civil War, Camp Boyle was an important Union muster site in Columbia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_Kentucky
The face of the postcard is a photograph of the imposing temple erected to honor the childhood homes of Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln family lived in several places within Kentucky before Abe left to pursue a law career in Illinois.
Hodgenville, a small city in LaRue County of central Kentucky, was the closest community to the cabin where Lincoln was born.
This settlement on the Nolin River grew up around a mill established circa 1790 by Robert Hodgen – a native of Pennsylvania.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodgenville,_Kentucky
The Lincoln family moved to another small farm in the Hodgenville area when Abe Lincoln was two.
Both sites, of the original birthplace and the boyhood home of Lincoln, are contained within the “Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park”.
The grand building in the postcard photograph is the memorial built for the Historical Park.
From the Wiki:
“A Beaux-Arts neo-classical Memorial Building was designed by John Russell Pope for the birthplace site.
On February 12, 1909, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the cornerstone was laid by President Theodore Roosevelt and the building was dedicated on November 9, 1911, by President William Howard Taft.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_Birthplace_National_Historical_Park
The variety of grand memorials to Lincoln across the United States speaks to the unmatched emotional involvement of ordinary citizens in Lincoln’s life and death.
There is no mention in these stately buildings of the enormous opposition and personal vituperation that Lincoln suffered from the people who later idolized him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_memorials_to_Abraham_Lincoln
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On the reverse of the postcard, R.V.B. reports to Dorothy, “Having a big time as usual.”
The traveling party has made Columbia the “head-quarters for the last few days.”
The visit to Kentucky is ending as the message concludes, “Will leave here today or tomorrow”.
One hopes that the travelers were inspired by the memory of Lincoln, that they returned safely to their homes, and that Dorothy had opportunity to learn more about the trip to Kentucky.
