Postcard Stories

[et_pb_section fb_built="1" admin_label="section" _builder_version="4.16" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_row admin_label="row" _builder_version="4.16" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="4.27.8" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" sticky_enabled="0"]<p><em>We invite you to be part of our collaborative community project as we celebrate 130 years of the Heriot Bay Inn.</em></p> <p><strong>We ask you to send us your post card!</strong><br />• Create your own postcard<br />• Pick-up a FREE postcard at our Front Desk<br />• Or send a postcard from your town</p> <p>Mail in your post card - postmarked from your home town, or drop off in person.</p> <p><strong>The project runs from August through November 30. If you prefer, you may also drop off your postcard in person until December 13.</strong></p> <p>Our completed postcard collection will become part of "<em>Through the Ages</em>," a special art exhibition celebrating the history of the Heriot Bay Inn. Alongside paintings and drawings depicting the Inn's journey from its earliest days in 1896 to the present, your postcards will help create a feature wall filled with memories, stories, and images shared by our community and afar.</p> <p>Whether your memory is from decades ago or your very first visit, we'd love for you to be part of this celebration.</p> <p>P.S. "Wish you were here!"</p> <h2>The Story Behind the Postcard</h2> <p>As we celebrate 130 years of the Heriot Bay Inn, we're taking a journey through the stories that have shaped our history. Among the most treasured keepsakes from the Inn's past are its postcards—small pieces of cardstock that have become remarkable windows into another time.</p> <p>Today, we send emails, text messages, and social media posts in seconds. Yet for generations of travellers, visitors, and local residents, the postcard was the quickest and most practical way to share news. Long before telephones became commonplace, a few handwritten lines on a postcard could let loved ones know they had arrived safely, describe an unforgettable fishing trip, or simply say, "Wish you were here."</p> <p>Introduced in the late nineteenth century, postcards offered an inexpensive and convenient alternative to writing formal letters. They required no envelope and only a few words, making communication accessible to almost everyone. Their simplicity helped transform everyday correspondence, allowing people to stay connected across towns, provinces, and even continents.</p> <p>Most postcards are instantly recognizable by their familiar rectangular shape and sturdy cardstock, designed to be mailed without an envelope. While novelty cards have appeared in many shapes and materials over the years, the classic postcard has remained much the same. There is even a field devoted to collecting and studying postcards, known as deltiology.</p> <p>Early postcards looked quite different from those we know today. Until 1907, postal regulations required the entire back of the card to be reserved for the recipient's address, leaving senders to write their messages on the picture side. When the "divided back" was introduced in 1907, correspondence became much easier, with one half reserved for the address and the other for a personal message.</p> <p>In cities where mail was delivered several times a day, a postcard could be received and answered within hours. For decades, they were one of the fastest and most popular forms of communication. People arranged meetings, advertised businesses, placed orders, shared travel adventures, and kept in touch with family and friends over great distances.</p> <p>The postcards of the Heriot Bay Inn tell these stories in the

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