New Hampshire

These mailable vintage-photograph postcards offer a nostalgic look all the way back to the beginning of Clark's Trading Post and the White Mountain Central Railroad. In 1928, Edward and Florence Clark opened a roadside attraction in Lincoln, New Hampshire, for visitors to the White Mountains. Ed Clark's Eskimo Sled Dog Ranch featured guided tours with its purebred Eskimo sled dogs and artifacts from Labrador, Canada. The Stand offered souvenirs, tonic, and maple products to motorists. Three black bears, Soggle, Toggle, and Woggle, joined the family in 1935, and the bears acted as the perfect visual attraction, gaining the attention of curious passersby. In 1949, Ed and Murray, sons of Florence and Edward, began training black bears for show work. The Clark brothers and their bears delighted guests with humor and hospitality as they entertained and educated the audience. Generations later, that philosophy lives on as the Clarks offer bear shows, rides on the White Mountain Central Railroad, family entertainment, and good, honest fun to visitors. There are up to 20 family members working at Clark's Trading Post on any given day, including fifth-generation descendants. All photographs in this collection are from the Clark family archives.

In the United States, the earliest attempts to build wave-swept lighthouses in the 1830s led to several masterpieces of engineering, a few of which are in the New England region. This collection of mailable vintage-photograph postcards focuses on Whaleback (Maine), Saddleback Ledge (Maine), Minot's Ledge (Massachusetts), Halfway Rock (Maine), Graves Ledge (Massachusetts), and Ram Island Ledge (Maine). All of these wave-swept lighthouses stand in rugged testimony to the people who designed and built them, and they also serve to remind us of the struggles and sacrifices of the lighthouse keepers who kept a good light for so many years before automation.

Story Land boasts a rich history.

Newbury boasts a rich history.