No. 79 – “Dorr E. Newton’s Cottage”
Depicted here is a vintage post card with caption on the reverse side stating: “Mr. Dorr E. Newton’s new cottage on ninety-fifth street, near Sunset Drive, Stone Harbor, N. J. A very popular type of cottage at The Wonder City by the Sea”. That being said, I must say that this is the very first time that I have ever seen Stone Harbor referred to in print as “The Wonder City by the Sea”.
This spacious 2-story structure has a very nice screened-in porch in the front and another porch located at the back. There are two more features that I would like to point out to our readers/viewers that appear to the left of the house but in the background. First, and unmistakably, the large 5-story Shelter Haven Hotel can be seen if you look through the screened-in porch directly behind where the woman is seated on the steps. Secondly, and perhaps even more interesting, there definitely appears to be some railroad passenger cars parked in the background at a time when excursion trains still served Stone Harbor. I have often found that carefully examining post cards and other photographic images can reveal some unexpected surprises. I find it always pays to look for any other extraneous details aside from the main subject that is being highlighted in the images.
One final comment has to do with the address/stamped/message portion on the reverse side of this post card. I wanted you to see the flip side of this item. As you can see, the card is franked with a single green 1-cent postage stamp bearing the likeness of George Washington. What I find most interesting, and my reason for sharing this with you at this time, is the nicely and fully struck “Stone Harbor, N. J.” postal cancellation dated “JUL / 14 / 2PM / 1914” applied in black ink by hand-stamp to the adhesive in the upper right corner of this card. Another great touch to look for is the quality or the flair and the style of the penmanship written by the sender for both the address and the message. This clearly was back in the day when if a pencil wasn’t being used as the primary and most available writing tool (remember there were no ball point pens, yet), then real fountain pens with ink were the instrument of choice. And the message for the intended recipient, a Mrs F. Westphal living at 167 N. Robinson St. in West Phila., stated: “Down for the day. Will be out to see you some day this week. Marie”. That is a pretty typical message of those times – short and to the point – due to the limited space available on the left side of the post card!