Antique & Vintage Postcards

Tall New England pines filter afternoon light across a neatly mown lawn where late-1950s tail-finned automobiles sit parked outside the low white wings of Motel Caswell — a quintessential mid-century American roadside stop that offered wall-to-wall carpet, television in every room, tile baths, and breakfast and dinner served around the clock, every day of the year. Located one mile east of Fitchburg on Routes 2A and 13 in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, the motel carries its AAA approval badge proudly on the reverse alongside a second location in Tewksbury, suggesting a small regional chain riding the postwar motel boom. A child's red swing set peeks in from the left edge — a deliberate marketing touch reminding family road-trippers that Caswell was kid-friendly. Dexter Press of West Nyack, N.Y., the premier publisher of American chrome motel cards, produced this vibrant color view, which was later written on — simply and perfectly — by a guest named Ernice: "This is where I am."