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Harford County in Vintage
Postcards by Bill Bates Introduction to book: Alternate version one | Version two This chatty version of the introduction was the first. I had it written months before I sat down to select the postcards I would use. It came in a burst and is about one hundred words too long. At least it gave me a sense that I had a focus and perhaps a rationale for choosing about 225 postcards from the more than 1500 to which I had access. If you’re like me, you pick up postcards when you travel. I don’t send them to anyone—I keep them as reminders of the places I’ve been. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the photography is often better, the lighting more spectacular, than the photos I take. There’s nothing like a terrific postcard to bring back those great travel and vacation memories. The same was true a century ago when picture postcards had their beginning, especially here in Harford County. Why here? Harford has always been in a great position to attract travelers: between here and there. Our towns lie on major roads and waterways between great cities: Richmond, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and other points south, with Wilmington, Philadelphia, New York, and other points north. Harford has always been a great stopping over point. People would also come from urban settings like Baltimore and Philadelphia to spend the entire summer away from the concentrated heat and smell of the city. Keep in mind that travel took longer a century ago. Horses can carry a human or pull a wagon or buggy only so far before they need rest and refreshment (the horses, that is—actually, the people, too). So business travelers or lawyers in town for court matters stayed overnight in Bel Air, for example. Today there isn’t a single hotel in Downtown Bel Air. But in 1900, you could take your pick: around court house square on Main Street there were the Granger Hotel, the Vaughn Hotel, and the Stagmer Hotel; down the road was the elegant Kenmore Inn; over on Bond Street, away from the open-all-night eateries was the choice for peaceful summer-long stays—the posh Eagle Hotel. The situation was much the same whichever road you took: Churchville, Aberdeen, Havre de Grace, Darlington—most towns had at least one hotel and the bigger towns had many. And many of the hotels made postcards with pictures of their establishments. They used them to send thank you notes to guests. Guests used them to send quick notes to friends and family. But postcards weren’t just for travelers. The new medium of photo postcards allowed folks to have postcards made showing their businesses, their churches, their homes, and even their own portraits. They’d use them as very personalized stationery, literally showing the most important things and people in their lives to folks miles away who might never get to visit. It’s that personal element that makes this book so special. These postcards make up a portrait of the people and their lives from every corner of Harford County. It’s where we live now, but shown as it was as far back as 100 years ago—as spectacular as huge floods and massive ice floes, railroad wrecks, and training for a World War, and as mundane as waiting for a train on a hot day or sitting on your own front porch to catch a cool breeze when the day’s work was done. The 224 postcards that I chose for this book were culled from well over 1,000 in various collections. The hardest part of doing a book like this is leaving out so many wonderful images; you are getting the best of the best. Dates listed in boldface type as part of the card’s title represent the postmark, not necessarily the date of the photo. Because postcards do not carry copyright dates, the postmark, when available, is the surest way to date the card. You may have questions or comments about something in this book, or you might have postcards, photos, or stories for me to include in future books about Harford County. I’d love to hear from you. Send e-mail to bill@harfordbooks.com. If you’d like to know more about this book or more about Harford County, visit www.harfordbooks.com. You’ll find list of written and online resources, additional images and more about specific images from this book, a rationale for how I selected the images that I used, and for collectors, thoughts on the rarity of some of these cards. |
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