Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Grim were living in Kutztown, a borough in northeast Berks County of southeast Pennsylvania.
This area, between the Blue Mountain and South Mountain ranges, was settled and farmed by many German immigrants in the 18th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutztown,_Pennsylvania
Industries, including knitting mills were, developed in the 19th century – and the borough today is home to Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
In July of 1941, the Grims received a postcard from their daughter, Mae.
The postcard was mailed from Pecks Pond, a campsite built around a man-made lake in the Pocono Mountain region (Pike County) of northeast Pennsylvania.
Although now surrounded by the Delaware State Forest, Pecks Pond retains a private enclave of cabins, some owned for generations of the same family.
Originally a lake created in the 19th century by a sawmill dam, the site was purchased by a Rod & Gun Club, and then became a vacation community by the early 20th century..
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The face of the postcard is a colorful scene of trees and flowering plants at the edge of a watery expanse.
Printed in the “linen-style”, the image shows a variety of hues and subtle blending of tones.
This is not a photograph or drawing specifically of Peck’s Pond.
It is one of the generic “River Scenes” of the Curt Teich Company which basted of its patented “Colortone” process of printing.
Here are two uncredited photographs of Pecks Pond (found in Google Search) to compare to this generic image.
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On the reverse, Mae greets “Dear Mother and Dad”.
She reports, “Having a lot of fun”.
Mae seems to be with a group as she notes, “We arrived at the cabin at 1:40 P. M.”
It isn’t clear if Mae is commenting on the weather when she adds, “Boy us it cool up here”.
Mae is “just feeling fine up here” and expects to be “seeing you when I get home.”
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RESEARCH NOTE
On February 26, 1924, Mae Ellen Grim was born in Virginville of Berks County.
Mae was the only child of Samuel M. Grim (1904-1959) and Anna Dreibelbis (1905-1977).
(Incredibly, we shared earlier a postcard to Anna Dreibelbis as a girl in Kutztown in 1910: “A Postcard from Wescosville”.)
Mae lived her entire life near Kutztown; the census records in some years indicating she lived in the “same house”.
She would have been 17 years old when she visited the cabin at Pecks Pond in 1941.
Within a few years (I have not found the marriage document), Mae married Kenneth Herman Stump (1921-2007).
On March 23, 2006, Mae died at age 82.
Kenneth died 11 months later at the age of 85.
Mae and Kenneth are buried in Fairview Cemetery in Kutztown.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109171110/mae-ellen-stump
Samuel and Anna, who received this postcard, are buried in the same cemetery.
