Mrs. James Irwin lived in Bart, a township of southeast Lancaster County in southeast Pennsylvania.
Today, this agricultural region has a preponderance of Amish farmers; the area is distinguished by the concentration of German-speaking residents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Township,_Pennsylvania
In June of 1921, Mrs. Irwin received a postcard from Mabel.
Mabel mailed the postcard from Columbia, the lovely borough on the banks of the Susquehanna River in western Lancaster County.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_Pennsylvania
Bart is about 30 miles southeast of Columbia.
Columbia had been an important center of transportation and commerce since the early 19th century – it was the terminus of a canal that connected central Pennsylvania to Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay.
In the early 20th century, Columbia was a junction of railroad lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_and_Columbia_Railroad
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The face of the postcard is a charming scene of a boating party.
A printed title identifies, “River Front, Columbia, PA”.
One can see the evidence of local industry, and some civic buildings and church steeples.
The view from the water cannot display the blocks of beautiful homes that still distinguish the downtown area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Historic_District_(Columbia,_Pennsylvania)
The postcard was originally published by the Post Card Distributing Company of Philadelphia.
This print was made by the Curt Teich Company of Chicago, a prolific colorizer and re-printer of postcards.
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On the reverse, Mabel begins her message without a greeting -which makes it difficult to identify her relationship to Mrs., Irwin.
“Arrived here at 10 A.M”., Mabel reports, and, “Carrie is here.”
I cannot decipher the name in the next sentence: “____ has sold his home”.
“Harry F. was here on Sunday”.
It seems that the most memorable part of the visit was some fruit that Mabel consumed: “Never ate better berries than we had on Mon.”
It is possible that the unidentified berries were fresh strawberries.
From Google: “The strawberry growing season in central Pennsylvania is typically from mid-May through June for the main crop…”
Mrs. Irwin seems to have been pleased by the postcard and the news, the postcard was preserved in very good condition for a century.
One hopes that Mabel accomplished the purpose of her visit and returned safely to her home.
