Entrance to the Stump House, Eureka, California, circa 1940

About this postcard

The view looks into the dark doorway cut through the base of an enormous redwood stump, with a painted sign above the opening recording the tree's dimensions, its 302-foot height and the 361,366 board feet of lumber it yielded. The card's own caption names it the Stump House of Eureka, California, one of the roadside attractions built into the surviving stumps of the region's old-growth redwoods. Such stump houses and drive-through trees drew motor tourists along the Redwood Highway in the early twentieth century, and the posted visiting hours on the sign reflect that commercial tourist trade.