I am the Site Manager at the Delaware and Hudson Canal Linear Park and Interpretive Center in Summitville, NY. You have heard from me before about some of our past events including a series of history lectures. Our expert lectures have drawn upon much of the typical sources of information from print materials, other lectures, and, in the case of our speakers, a good bit of field study by walking through what remains of the canals route. These sites are located just a few feet from where many of us live along Route 209. One remarkable source of information about the canal era comes from the postcards sent by locals, or vacationers back in the late 1800s. More about that a little later.

I visited Mexico this past May. I am one of the 18 or so percent of travelers who send postcards back home whenever I go on a trip. Texting and emails seems to have put a dent in the postcard market. I feel that sending a postcard while on a trip shows that you care about the recipient and decided to find a few moments to provide them with a memento of your trip. That is why I do it. Oddly, postcards were not readily available in Mexico City. I finally found some at one of the oldest department stores in Mexico City called Sanborns. The cards were nice and surprisingly expensive given how prices on almost everything else in Mexico are so low. I purchased a ton of stamps at a place called the Post Office Palace which is an architectural masterpiece containing an extensive post office museum where they still maintain normal postal operations. My vacation was drawing to a close so I holed up at a cafe in one of the museums in the historic district. I started to write out my 20 cards and started to feel sick which turned out to be the onset of a bout with kidney stones. I persevered and finished the cards and headed out to the closet mailbox. I asked around and learned that there were no mailboxes on the street and that I needed to go directly to a post office. All the post offices were closed on that late Saturday afternoon. In desperation I wandered back to the Post Office Palace I mentioned earlier and noticed a security guard on duty inside. Given the climate in Mexico City the windows are barred and not blocked with glass. I explained my dilemma and he agreed to accept the cards and insisted that I observe him drop them in the mail slot. I returned home the next day. A month passed and none of my cards have reached any of my friends. I was worried that something had gone wrong. I was tormented by the notion that I had written out these damned cards while passing kidney stones and that they were all lost. Eventually word trickled in, one arrived in Florida, a second in Long Island, then Brooklyn, and finally my fiancé received hers in Newburgh. Now I am only tormented about how long each of the recipients will keep their cards. Greeting cards can be thrown out at some point I suppose, but they better hang on to their postcards!

Now, back to the Interpretive Center in Summitville. On Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 2 PM Bill Merchant will present on “The D&H Canal and Gravity Railroad in Post Cards.” Postcards document the natural landscape, the built environment, and reveal what was on the minds of the folks writing the cards back in those times. Cards from that era provide information that could not have been captured in the many other ways that the canals history was documented. It shows what particular scene some enterprising individuals thought was worth capturing in a picture, and what might sell to someone who wanted to purchase a card to share the image and a brief message with friends back home. The individuals who sent these cards were showing a tangible form of affection for the cards’ recipients. That was their immediate goal. They also provided a treasure chest of important and fascinating records for the many generations that followed. Come hear Bill speak on the 12th! Admission is free.

Sean Moore

Summitville