Mrs. Allen Hoffer lived in Manheim, the historic borough in Lancaster County of southeast Pennsylvania.
Founded in 1762, Manheim was once home to the famed Steigel Glass of the Colonial Era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manheim,_Pennsylvania
In May of 1908. Mrs. Hoffer received a postcard from her Uncle Amos.
Uncle Amos mailed the postcard from Mount Joy, a pleasant borough settled by Scots-Irish immigrants in the mid-18th century,
Mount Joy is seven miles from Manheim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Joy,_Pennsylvania
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The face of the postcard is a a hand-colored photograph of the Pequea Creek between the towns of Gordonville and Paradise, PA.
These communities, less than one mile apart, lie east of the city of Lancaster.
The Pequea Creek runs about 49 miles from the border of Lancaster and Chester Counties to the lower Susquehanna River near Holtwood, PA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pequea_Creek
The postcard appears to have been printed before 1906; there is no place for a message on the reverse.
Uncle Amos inscribed a few lines on the margin of the face.
The Souvenir Post Card Company of New York and Leipzig published the postcard; it was printed in Germany.
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In his message, Uncle Amos addresses his “Dear Niece”, and thanks her for her postcard invitation.
Unfortunately, Uncle Amos and his family will not be able to accept:
He writes, “…we have Communion at Chestnut Hill so we must come another time.”
I believe that this reference is to the Chestnut Hill Mennonite Church which would have observed the practice of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference to hold Communion Services once in the Spring and once in the Fall.
One guesses that the service was longer on those Sundays, or perhaps there was a fellowship meal at the church following the service.
The Chestnut Hill Mennonite Church was founded as a log chapel built in 1790.
The small congregation became part of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference, and a larger, brick church was erected in 1874,
In 2022, the diminishing congregation dissolved and the property was acquired by the Chinese Bible Church of Lancaster, PA.
https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Chestnut_Hill_Mennonite_Church_(Columbia,_Pennsylvania,_USA)
