“Grts”, in post card lingo, often refers to a card with “Greetings from…” on the front. The picture on the front of this card is some generic view of a river with a train steaming along it. When I looked, the railroad in Pennington doesn’t get too close to the Powell River, anyway. The overprint just ties it to Pennington, for tourism’s sake, you know. I would date this card to the late 40s, early 50s.
To me, this is an interesting post card. It was published by Asheville Post Card Company in the late 40s and it doesn’t feature original photographs taken by the company. These are historic black & white photos that were colored in before printing. No photographer is credited. I suppose that the pharmacy provided the photos to APCC to use.
Other than the original photos being taken from different viewpoints (or using different lenses), there are four differences between these two cards:
The lower one, obviously, is the earlier. I think it may have been taken pre-WWII. The upper one, probably late 40s.
The differences I see: First, the plate numbers are different (I can only date Asheville Post Card Company cards by inference. I found another card in the E-7417 range that had a 1948 post mark). Second, the shrubbery. Third, the sign on the corner in front of the church. Fourth, the early one is titled merely “JC-71 Methodist Church, Johnson City, Tenn.” and the later one is “JC-75 First Methodist Church, Johnson City, Tenn.”
The style of the back of the card dates this to the 1930s. Asheville Post Card Company was using this sort of anonymous back for some reason known only to the company. Later, they were proud to identify themselves on all cards. This is a linen-finish card.
Also, my research turned up the fact that the scene on the front is generic. Not in Mountain City nor in its environs. Although, an editor for APCC said, in an old interview, that people would sometimes “recognize” the scene as being in their particular area.
I did lighten the front of the card. It’s got some age on it.
Btw, the lowest temperature on record in Tennessee was reported in Mountain City on December 30, 1917: -32 degrees.
Asheville Post Card Company issue called a “Pennant Landscape”
The “Galax, VA.” is an overprint for a standard card.
It was mailed in 1943, when Galax had half its current population. It’s hard to read the writing, but I did find Sgt. Marrion W(oodward) Fisher. Camp Santa Anita was a dog racing park in Arcadia CA that had been taken over by the Army for ordnance training. Sgt. Fisher was born in 1920 in Bath VA. He died in 2011 in Covington VA.
I think the signature on the card is “James”
I don’t know squat about pre-WWII buses (or any other buses, for that matter), but I was curious about this Smoky Mountains Trailways bus. By the shape of the windshield, I think it may be a Mack. I welcome a correction on that. The card was printed in the early 40s (Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated, by FDR, no less, in 1940.
I read a posting that stated the “founder of Trailways” had a lodge up in the mountains. I couldn’t track down who that may have been, but there was no real Trailways. It was Trailways Transportation System, comprising five individual companies, that was set up in 1936.
Darn nice-looking card, though. Asheville Post Card Company, natch. It’s linen finish, but borderless. I thought it might be a Curt Teich, but that inventory number doesn’t match up (I get a lot of that. APCC used other printers).
As I post this, the Smoky Mountains are actually quite smoky from the numerous forest fires we have going on.
Yep, this is a Giant Post Card, 7″ x 11″.
The image is of a standard 1940s post card of downtown Asheville (J11) by Asheville Post Card Company. However, the image was scaled up for this linen-finish card printed by Standard Souvenirs & Novelties, Inc., Knoxville, Tenn. This may still have been issued in the late 40s.
Uncle Bob's Pix 