This real-photo view shows a somewhat overgrown cottage built of stone slabs with a chimney at each end of its metal roof. A caption handwritten in ink up the left edge of the back reads, "Stone House Becks 6 mi. S.W. Salem Ind". The caption ties this card to the previous view labeled "Deer Farm." While neither I nor the Board of Historical Consultants to brockcreek.com are familiar with this structure, "six miles southwest of Salem" would put it in the vicinity, at least, of Beck's Mill in Howard Township. This is pure supposition, but it does seem likely that the structure stood somewhere near the mill. The fact that there's also a caption on the front of the card doesn't help much. It is extremely difficult to read. The letters appear to have been scratched into the emulsion side of the negative with a needle, perhaps while it was wet, so that they print in black, but they are very fine. The handwriting doesn't help. Some of the letters very oddly shaped, and the "s" is reversed, perhaps because they were written backward in order to print correctly. The complete caption may read "Stone House, Beck's Hill." Here's an enlarged sample: The card yields no clues as to when the photograph might have been taken or who the photographer was. It is printed on the same postcard back design photographic paper as the Deer Farm card, but the design isn't found in the catalog of Real Photo Card Backs, so there's no help for dating the images. This card was postmarked from Salem on Aug. 13, 1923 and addressed to Miss Alice Powell, 825 W. Broadway, Louisville, Ky. The message reads, "Hello Alice, you are certainly missing a good time. You should have come along. Getting plenty of watermelon to eat. Willie & Raymond came out yesterday. I get up about 3 o'clock every morning and go to bed about 8 or so. How is Mackie? Tell all the girls hello for me. Went to the Marengo Fair & Cave Thursday and am going to the Salem Fair next week. Wish you were here. Effie." (Apparently Effie worked with Alice at the Gibbs-Inman Printing Co. in Louisville and visited in Washington County every summer. At the same time I bought this card I bought another card from Effie to Alice written during her visit of 1922.) (08/22/04) Home | The 1920s | Next card