Le Havre - The Harbour

Le Havre was founded in 1517. Le Havre means “the harbour or the port”. In 1793 the city changed its name to Havre de Marat and later Havre-Marat in honor of the recently deceased Jean-Paul Marat, who was seen as a martyr of the French Revolution. In 1795 Havre-Marat changed its name to Le Havre, its modern name. It was during the 19th century, that Le Havre became an industrial center.

The city was devastated during the Battle of Normandy in World War II. The city of Le Havre, on the English Channel in Normandy, was severely bombed during the Second World War. The destroyed area was rebuilt according to the plan of a team headed by Auguste Perret, from 1945 to 1964.

The devastation that Le Havre sustained is evident in the this postcard. Historically, this picture is worth a thousand words, the sheer and utter devastation is just unbelievable. It is estimated that 12,000 people lost their lives during this time. For other historical views of France, stop by http://chisumtrailmercantile.ecrater.com - we'd love to have you - Dawn

The Carlsbad Caverns

During one of my many postcard sorting days, I ran across this vintage photo postcard of the Carlsbad Caverns.

The letter on the reverse side was written to the writer's mother and was explaining why there had been no contact. She'd been to the dentist to have a wisdom tooth pulled and the dentist broke the bone! Oh - the pain. I must confess I winced when I read the back message of this postcard. The writer goes on to explain that the tooth hadn't come through because there was no room and her gum had to be cut. Then she further explains about a fever that she's had for most of the time. I'm invisioning more severe pain -

This post card was mailed on July 15, the post marked date is not ledgible, but we can use the 2cent stamp for verification.

For this and other vintage postcards stop in and visit me at www.chisumtrailmercantile.ecrater.com