Antique & Vintage Postcards

Postmarked Washington, D.C., February 10, 1920, this hand-colored early white-border postcard transports the viewer into the famous colonial kitchen of Mount Vernon, where Martha Washington once presided over the great brick hearth — iron cranes, hanging pots, and a massive open fireplace still intact — while plate-laden pewter dressers line the far wall and a broad plank worktable anchors the terracotta-tiled floor. The printed description on the back notes that "the culinary art is no longer practiced here," lending the image a gentle elegiac tone. The sender writes to Margaret at 1123 Carrole St., Baltimore, Maryland: "In Washington today, Feb. 7–12. [Location name] today, with…" — a tantalizing fragment of an Edwardian traveler's itinerary. The 1¢ Benjamin Franklin green stamp (Washington D.C. machine cancel) is a classic workhorse of the era.