Pictou County Postcards
Vintage Postcards from Pictou County, Nova Scotia

This beautiful and extremely rare real photo postcard has the same blue inked rubber stamp that says J.S. Crockett, New Glasgow, the same black Private Post Card stamp on the back, and was mailed to the same person (Gaston Porcher in Dourdon, France), as card #PC 0006 (see New Glasgow section under East River). This card was mailed in Oct 1905, and the Canoeing Scene was mailed 3 weeks later. The card is slightly smaller than usual and the image is very clear and crisp.

Gaston Porcher is to date an unidentified character in this study of Pictou County postcards. He clearly knew both the Torry's and the Crockett's, and while it is not in any way proven, I am wondering if perhaps he was the link between the Torry's and their Belgian printer?

Based on the fact that this image has never shown up on a commercially printed postcard, and as I have 3 copies of this postcard (as of May 2014) all mailed by various members of the Crockett family, it is quite probable that a member of the Crockett family was the original photographer.

Mailed to Miss Harriet Munro, Victor, Tiller Co., Colorado, by F. I. MacPhie.

Do you know where these cliffs are and could you pinpoint them on a Google Map? Please email me if you know the answer to this. Also who was A.R. MacLeod?

Identical to card #PC 00278 shown above this card was mailed to Roquet Girard, Maison Venot, Chartres, France. This card was mailed just a few weeks later, so clearly the Crockett family either produced these cards themselves, or bought several of the same view from Torry's Book Store. The cropping and the colouration are ever so slightly different when these two cards are placed side by side for examination.

A blue ink hand stamp in upper left corner on front of card reads J. S. Crockett, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. The card back is identical to the other real photo postcards mailed by the Crockett family. Members of the Crockett family lived in Hopewell.

I have not been able to find any information about this store or family in Hopewell. Of particular interest are the presence of a gas station in this tiny village. Was this a popular road for motorized vehicles at the time?

The handwriting on the card is identical to PC 00653 of the Hopewell School which is shown just below. It is rather shaky so I am wondering if it was an elderly person who did the writing.

As noted above the handwriting on this card matches that of PC 00652 A.L. Hoar's General Store.

A very rare postcard, this is the only example of this card that I have seen. Blue rubber stamp with J. S. Crockett, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, in lower left on front of card. The Crockett's lived in Hopewell.

There is a photo of this exact scene (without the woman on the bridge) in the History of Hopewell, by Janet C. Bain and it is identified as being across from the C.N.R. Station and is likely the one that was built in 1881.

In this book, Janet Bain writes:
"Various footbridges were built across the West Branch of the East River. The first one was suspended on cables and built across from the station. A path led directly from the station to the river.
Another bridge of page wire was erected at MacArthurs. This bridge has served the area since before 1991 and is still in use today (1977).
Two others were located further up the river, one at Rod MacLean's and the other still further up the river at Enon MacLean's. Both of these bridges were made of page wire and have been gone for quite a few years."

This postcard was mailed to Mlle. Marguerite Delpy, 29 Boulevard de la Chapelle, Paris, France, one day after the PC 00490, Hopewell postcard.