If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 700

 

 

 

 

 

 Tours, France, ca 1914-1924

 

The perforation on the left side of the card indicates that this card was one in a booklet set.  It is an unused Vintage souvenir postcard.  Featured are four black & white photo views of the city of Tours with a young woman or girl wearing a traditional headdress in the center.  At the bottom margin on the front of the card is the number 48, the title Tours, and A.P.  The has card has a divided back with the typical greenish color that can be found on many European vintage cards.  A. Thiriat & Cie of Toulouse is identified as the printer or publisher on the reverse center line.  The card was found in a shoebox jumble and was purchased at a local antique mall. 

 

Thiriat & Company of Toulouse was known to issue cards with pictures of places, also military scenes, and people in uniform.  The pictures with people in uniform suggest they were from the World War I era, 1914-1918.  It is not known if Thiriat published or just printed the cards. 

 

The city of Tours is located in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France.  Situated between Orleans and the Atlantic coast it was originally founded and named Caesarodunum [“hill of Caesar”] in the 1^st century A.D. by the Roman Emperor Augustus.  During Gallic times it was an important point of crossing over the Loire River.  By the 4^th century A.D. the name was Turones, later Civitas Turonum, and finally Tours.  The Tours Amphitheatre, one of the largest Roman amphitheaters, can be found there.  Tours folk lore says that Turonus, the nephew of Brutus, died and is buried in Tours and the city was founded around his grave. 

 

Tours is famous for its bridges crossing the Loire.  There are two pictures of bridges on the card, one at the upper left and the other at the lower right corners.  The photos appear to be of the Wilson Bridge taken from opposite sides of the river.  This bridge is named afater the U.S. President, Woodrow Wilson.  Also pictured on the card, at the upper right is the Hôtel de Ville, and at the lower left, the Tours Cathedral, Saint Gatianus. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://rthcards.co.uk/pclogos/data/THIRIAT/THIRIAT_01.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel_de_Ville,_Tours

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Wilson_(Tours)

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

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 699

 

 

 

 

 

John P. Cable Mill, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

 

Featured on this unused Carl W. M. Cline Co., Color-King Color Card, is a photograph of the John P. Cable Mill located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, Tennessee.  The card has the number 81280 at the bottom center line on the reverse.  There is a blurb at the top left corner on the back:  “John P. Cable Mill—Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Located in the Cades Cove section this is the only Grist Mill left in the park using an overshot wheel.” 

 

The building is described as being typical of what remote Appalachian farmsteads were like more thaan 100-150 years ago, thus providing us with a glimpse into history.  The Cable Mill, situated on its original site, is just one of several historic buildings in the park.  Other buildings were brought from elsewhere and reconstructed on various other sites on the park grounds.  For instance, the blacksmith shop built in the 1950s, is representative of what a blacksmith shop would have been like in the 1870s or thereabouts. 

 

There is a dam on Mill Creek from which the water is funneled down a wooden flume and onto the top of the mill wheel.  There are several different types of water wheels.  The one used on the Cable Mill is called an overshot.  The water running over the wheel activates the mechanism to grind the corn using a mill stone.  The same wheel also powered a heavy reciprocating blade to cut logs making it possible for the miller to be able operate both a grist mill to grind flour and a sawmill to cut logs with one water wheel.   

 

 Some families had “tub” mills that could grind small amounts of grain; however, mills like the Cable mill were larger and stronger.  The miller would barter or charge a fee to grind the meal or saw logs.  A typical house in this area was a log cabin.  The sawmill could saw logs and save many back-breaking steps if the settler could provide the logs, trade or pay for cutting the lumber.   

 

Adjacent to the mill is the Gregg-Cable house, believed to have been constructed from some of the earliest timber cut on the Cable Mill.  It was built in 1879.  It is the first and only remaining all-frame house in Cades Cove. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Gristmill

https://www.nps.gov/places/cable-mill-historic-area.html

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

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

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 698

  

 

 

 

Vintage Valentine card, ca World War I era

 

This used postcard was sent to Miss Eunice McCoy of Duck, Wisconsin from her friend, Elaine.  The stamp is partly torn off and unfortunately it had part of the cancellation mark on it, making it difficult to place the year.  However, from the uniforms and the shoes the girl is wearing it appears to have been printed around the time of World War I, 1914-1918.  The card has a divided back, the number 501 and a trade mark at the upper left corner on the reverse.

 

 

Trade Mark logo 

The card came to me inside a handmade, collage valentine by my granddaughter, M a couple of years ago.  She found the postcard, knew I collect them and kindly sent it.  I am sharing her card too, since I like it very much and it is quite lovely as well.  Thanks M for both cards.

 

 

 

M's homemade collage Valentine

 Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 697

 

 

 

 

 

Florida Sea Biscuit

 

This Murphy Bros., Press, Inc. postcard has a photograph and printed information about the Florida Sea Biscuit.  The card has a note at the lower left on the reverse:  “Story of The Sea Biscuit in Florida.”  The code numbers:  76-34 appear just below the note.  

 

This card caught my eye since the name was different, but the picture looked like the Sand Dollars we find here on the Pacific Northwest coast beaches.  It turns out that the Florida Sea Biscuits are rounded, or puffed up, and not as flat as the ones we find here.  There are many names and varieties of these round burrowing sea urchins that belong to the order Clypeasteroida.  They can be found in New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, and other places around the globe. 

 

When the creature is alive it is covered with velvet-like spines.  The white skeletons that can be found on the beaches have been bleached by the sun and were thought to resemble a very large silver coin.  Other names include things like, sea cookies, snapper biscuits, pansy shells, and sand cakes.  Folklore from Georgia (U.S.A.) says the sand dollars were believed to represent coins lost by mermaids. 

 

 

 

Pacific Coast Sand Dollar, 2023

 

 

This Pacific Coast Sand Dollar is still alive and was found at low tide at Pacific Beach in Washington State.  The flower like design that is very visible on the bleached skeletons can only be faintly seen on the living urchin.  Amazingly early versions of these creatures have been around since the Jurassic period.  When I was a girl there were thousands of sand dollar skeletons on the ocean beaches, now they are not as common.  When Bob and I were hiking on Camano Island this fall it was heartening to find quite a few sand dollars on the beach there. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Sand_dollar