We met Sister Eulalia Greene and her illustrious religious community in an earlier postcard story: “Pictures to the Convent”
Sister Eulalia Belonged to the “Convent of the Visitation”, once a foundation of the Poor Clares in Georgetown, Washington, DC.
The Convent was founded in 1797 by French emigres whose religious life had been proscribed by the French Revolution.
The purpose was to encourage Catholic education – and the school eventually became Georgetown Visitation Prep.
For the first decades of its existence, the convent was not “enclosed” – the sisters could move freely within the city.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Visitation_Monastery
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Sometime in the summer of a year near 1930, Sister Eulalia received a postcard from Catherine
It appears that Catherine was in New Jersey, although we cannot see a clear postmark.
Sister Eulalia was in the habit of pasting her large postcard collection into albums – and the postmark is obliterated.
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The face of the postcard is a photograph of “St. Catherine Church and Rectory” in “Sea Side Park”, New Jersey.
Seaside Park (the name was changed by a municipal clerk!) is a borough on the Barnegal Peninsula in east-central New Jersey..
Barnegal Peninsula is a long barrier peninsula that separates Barnegal Bay from the Atlantic Ocean.
This area had been long inhabited by indigenous people who used shells as currency.
The completion of the Tom’s River Bridge in 1914, and the construction of a famed carousel, attracted a surge of summer visitors to this area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaside_Park,_New_Jersey
Today, St. Catherine’s Church enjoys a new church building, and is now linked to another church in the Parish of St. Junipero Serra.
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On the reverse, Catherine reports, “We have had three days of sunshine and fun”.
She adds, “Everything is so grand, I’ll be sorry when its (sic) all over.”
There are no clues about Catherine’s relationship to Sister Eulalia, or to the composition of the party that shared the splendid vacation with Catherine.”.
Catherine’s message was sent, “Lovingly”.
One hopes that Sister Eulalia was thrilled by the souvenir of New Jersey, that the postcard was revisited often in the album, and that Catherine continued to share her experiences with her friend.
