Miss Gertrude Sadler lived in Brunswick, the historic city on the Androscoggin River in southeast Maine.
The small city was a flourishing center of the lumber industry: Bowdoin College (founded in 1794) and large paper and textile mills enriched the area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick,_Maine
In December of 1908, Gertrude received a postcard from a friend in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Woburn, nine miles north of Boston, was settled early in the colonial era and became a center of tanning for two hundred years. In 1803, the Middlesex Canal enabled shipping of local produce to wider markets and the Boston and Lowell Railroad reached Woburn in 1835.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woburn,_Massachusetts
The face of the postcard shows the birthplace of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumsford.
Thompson was a brilliant, although haphazardly-educated youngster, growing up in genteel poverty in Woburn.
In adolescence he became interested in science, and began corresponding with the many gentleman-experimenters who dappled in scientific inquiries (think Benjamin Franklin).
During the American Revolution, he abandoned his wealthy and well-connected wife and joined the Loyalist cause.
He eventually settled in London, where he was painted by Gainsborough, and then took appointment to the court of Bavaria where he initiated significant advance in military training, public health, and city planning.
His published essays on friction and heat, although not always correct, became important in establishing the laws of Thermodynamics.
Although a Loyalist, Thompson was elected as a Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1789.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Thompson
Printed in Germany, the postcard was published by “Whitcher of Woburn”.
The postcard was published circa 1905, when messages were prohibited on the reverse.
Consequently, Gertrude’s friend wrote on the face –“Out on another hike today.”
The writer adds, “Why don’t you write?”
One hopes that Gertrude was so pleased by the charming postcard that she made a swift reply to her friend in Woburn.
