If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 475

 

 

 

 

Near Pitfure Church, Rogart, East Sutherland, Scotland, ca 1950s

Today’s used postcard, published by Anne Baxter, Golspie & Train, features an image by Photo Precision Ltd., St. Ives, Cambs.  The number R7711 is printed at the bottom center on the reverse.  This is another card that was found in a shoebox of mixed cards in an antique mall.  

The country scene is appealing and includes a little patch of heather, lower right corner.  Heather is one of the traditional flowers of Scotland but it also grows in the mountains in the Pacific Northwest.  The road winding through the valley of Strathfleet leads to Lairg a village in the Highlands.  While most of the settlements in the Highlands are along the coast, Lairg is inland.  It used to be known as the Crossroads of the North from the four roads that meet in the village.  

Rogart is a small village in the Highlands that was the home of Major Andrew MacDonald.  MacDonald is known to have fought in the French and Indian War.  The Rogart railway station opened in 1886 and allowed the village to expand around the older village.

Open-air preaching was traditional before 1900 when there was a division in the United Free Church.  In 1929 most of the United Free Church joined the Church of Scotland but there were still some bad feelings and the congregations remained separate until around 1948 when they were officially united into one congregation.  

One story regarding the church building was that in the old days prior to the split, the site for the building was refused by McLeod, the land owner.  McLeod claimed as “Lord of the soil and therefore entitled to prevent God’s creatures from enjoying that soil for any purpose which he does not approve.  He will let it out for culture, and give houses in which to eat and drink and sleep, but not a spot on which to build a house of God, to worship.”  Prior the building of the church, the community asked if they could meet on the beach above the high-water mark.  The answer was that they could put up a tent and meet there for worship.  Between 1900 and the completion of the building members met in local homes and sometimes in the open-air.  In 1906 fundraising was started to build a new church at Pitfure.  The project was completed in 1910.  Robert J. MacBeth of Inverness was the architect.  At the jubilee celebration in 1960 an open-air meeting was held behind the church just as the sun was setting over the hills.

The stamp shows a profile view of Queen Elizabeth with the Lion of Scotland at the upper left.  This design with various values was printed for use in Scotland in the 1950s.  

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lairg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Skibo_and_Strafleet
https://rogartheritage.co.uk/places/pitfure-church
 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 474

Skipjack, ca 1960

F.W. Brueckmann is credited with the photograph on this unused postcard.  The card was distributed by Tingle Printing Co., Pittsville, Maryland.  The picture was reproduced using Plastichrome by Colour Picture of Boston, MA.  Plastichrome reproduction began around 1939 and still used today.  The code P72374 is found at the upper center on the reverse.  There is also an information blurb on the reverse that says:  “A Skipjack at anchor in the harbor at Ewell, Smith Island, Maryland.  This famous style of sailing vessel has plied the waters of the Chesapeake Bay country for over a century.  It is a work boat used in the seafood industry and is also a popular entry in annual sailboat races in the Bay Area.”

The skipjack is wooden hulled with a square stern and a V-shaped bow.  It has a long boom, about the same length of the deck of the boat, and is sloop-rigged.  The mainsail is usually triangular.  There are rollers and bumpers mounted on either side to guide the dredge line and protect the hull.  The design, sail shape, and rigging provides the power needed to pull the dredge in light wind with a minimal number of crew members.  This is a traditional fishing boat used on Chesapeake Bay for oyster dredging.

At one time there were approximately 2,000 skipjacks produced.  Only about 40 exist today with about half that number still in active use.  Due to laws restricting the use of power boats in the Maryland oyster fishery this type of boat has used since the late 1800s.   In 1985 the Skipjack was named the state boat of Maryland.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skipjack_(boat)
https://www.oldpostcards.com/Oldpostcards-History-of-Postcards-Page.html

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 473

Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

This postcard was distributed by Art Color Card Distributions of Cherry Hill, New Jersey with color by Mike Roberts of Berkeley, California.  The blurb on the reverse reads: “… was built in 1770 by the Carpenters’ Company, founded in 1724 by a group of master carpenters, as their hall.  Beginning September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress met here almost daily.  Because of its historic importance, Carpenters’ Company in 1857 resolved to dedicate this hall as a patriotic shrine.”

The building is a two story, Georgian style, brick meeting hall.  It is the oldest craft guild meeting hall privately owned and still used by the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia.  The land was purchased on behalf of the Company in 1768 by Benjamin Loxley, Robert Smith, and Thomas Nevell.  Robert Smith designed the hall based on town halls in Scotland, where he was born, and Italian villas in Palladio, Italy.  The first carpenters’ guild meeting was held in the hall in January 1771 until 1777 when the British Army captured Philadelphia.  It was in this hall that the Congress resolved to ban imports of slaves and discontinue slave trade within the colonies.  

The meeting hall served as a hospital for both British and American troops during the Revolutionary War.  In 1970 it was designated a National Historic Landmark and in 1982 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission voted to recognize Carpenters’ Hall as the official birthplace of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Today it is open to the public for free with more than 150,000 tourists visiting annually.  It is also still used for the Carpenters’ Company meetings.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenters’_Hall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenters'_Company_of_the_City_of_Philadelphia

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 472

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, painting by Thomas Moran, 1872

Here is an unused postcard from Yellowstone park issued by Yellowstone Association.  This one has the 1872 painting by the American painter and printmaker, Thomas Moran (1837-1926).  The number 34 is found in the center of the card on the reverse.  The original painting was purchased by the United States Government for $10,000 in 1872.  There are two version of the view, one from 1872 and the other from 1893-1901.  When the painting was first exhibited in New York thousands of people came to the showing and it helped inspire the nation to protect the world’s first national park. 
 

There are several viewing areas of Yellowstone Falls in the park today.  This picture is from a visit to the park in 2017 and shows the falls and canyon near the place shown in Moran's painting. 

In this second picture, above, the boardwalk to the viewing platform can be seen at the lower middle.  In Moran's painting there are two people standing approximately where boardwalk ends in the clump of trees.  It would have been challenging to get to these places in 1871 when there were no trails or viewing areas.

Thomas Moran was a talented illustrator and shared a studio with his younger brother, Edward Moran, who was a noted marine artist.  Several other members of his family were also artists.  In the 1860s he was the chief illustrator at Scribner’s Monthly magazine.  His work for the magazine helped launch his career as an American landscape painter focusing on the American West.  Moran used a variety of mediums such as watercolors, oils, wood-engravings, etchings and lithography.  He also made color prints of his own works.  His most famous works were done using watercolors or oils.  Because much of his artwork often features places in the Rocky Mountains, Moran is one of those artists who are sometimes referred to as belonging to the Rocky Mountain School of landscape painters.

Invited by Dr. Ferdinand Hayden, director, to join the U.S. Geological Survey in 1871, Moran traveled with the expedition team into the then unknown Yellowstone region.  During his time in the wilderness he documented over 30 different sites and produced a diary of the expedition’s progress.  His sketches together with photographs by another team member, William Henry Jackson, called public attention to the area and helped in the creation of Yellowstone as the first national park in 1872.

Moran traveled extensively for the next 40 years sketching and painting the places he visited.  In 1884 he was elected to the membership of the National Academy of Design and continued to produce numerous works of art in his senior years.  One of his paintings is part of the White House collection.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moran

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 471

Roosevelt Arch, Yellowstone Park, Gardiner, Montana

Today’s unused postcard features a photograph from MacNeil Lyons Images distributed by Yellowstone Forever and shows the Roosevelt Arch, named for President Theodore Roosevelt, located at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana.  The inscription at the top of the arch is a quote from the Organic Act of 1872 that created the park, and reads: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”  The plaque above the left side door has “Yellowstone Park.”  The right side says “Created by an Act of Congress 1 March 1872.”

The design for the arch is attributed to the architect, Robert Reamer.  Reamer designed the train depot but documentation concerning the arch is inconclusive.  When the park first opened there was no road for automobiles and people arrived by train and transferred to a stagecoach for the trip from the depot to the park hotel. 

 

Early motorized tour buses like this one with a canvas top and open sides were used after a road was put in.  Petra And I.C. Lee are 3rd and 4th from the left, ca 1915

Construction on the Arch began in February 1903 and was completed in August of the same year.  President Roosevelt was visiting the Park during the construction of the arch and was asked to place the cornerstone which he did.  Under the stone is a time capsule containing a Bible, a picture of Roosevelt, local newspapers, and other items.  

Exiting the park through the arch, 2017

Turning around to look at the front of the Roosevelt Arch

Pedestrian passageway through the arch

Bob acts as measuring rod to show the size

Originally the design for the entrance included a small lake and waterfall but the climate and semi-arid location made this impractical and it was not pursued.  The arch is constructed of blocks of columnar basalt that was quarried locally.  It is 52 feet or 16 m high and has two pedestrian walkways with heavy wooden doors.  The walls on either side of the arch are made of the same material and stand 12 ft or 3.7 m high and end in short towers.  From 1903 to 1921 the north entrance station was located just past the arch.  In 1961 the entrance station was relocated a substantial distance to the south.

For additional information, see:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/Roosevelt_Arch