Miss Nora Hartman lived in Temple, now a census-designated place in Muhlenburg Township of central Berks County in southeast Pennsylvania.
Named for a noted inn of the Colonial Era (“Solomon’s Temple”), the community was once incorporated as a borough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple,_Pennsylvania
In July of 1908, Nora received an art postcard from Emma Hartman.
The postcard was mailed from Oley, a census-designated place in central Berks County of southeast Pennsylvania.
Located on the Little Manatawny Creek, Oley was once known as Friedensburg and was the site of an iron works.
Today, the entire community is within an historic district.
(Daniel Boone, frontier explorer and folk hero, was born nearby.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oley,_Pennsylvania
The face of the postcard shows a rustic log cabin surrounded by trees and lush foliage.
An unpaved trail, bordered by a failing rail fence and by slanted palings, leads us through this verdant landscape.
A printed title explains that this is “The Old Homestead”.
We have seen other examples of this nostalgic imagery which became popular as the generation of settlers (for much of the country) passed into history.
In 1910, the “old homestead” would relate most often to the generation of one’s grandparents or great-grandparents (except on the east coast where it might be a few more generations).
On the reverse, Emma invites Nora, “Come down to our picnic on Saturday the first.”
Emma reports, “the family will go down at 10:00”.
I assume that “going down” refers to a trip by trolley or train.
Emma adds, “Come early and go along down for dinner.”
Again, I assume that “dinner” is the mid-day meal.
Unfortunately, we do not know if Nora accepted the invitation to the picnic on August 1.
We do know that the postcard was preserved in good condition throughout her life.
Reader Comments
Followers of a Berks County history site (where this postcard story was shared) identified trolley lines that would connect Temple and Oley – and mapped a projected timetable for the picnic trip.
Other readers cited newspaper articles related to the individual members (and the activities) of the Hartman family.
