Pine boughs and printed verse, Wisconsin, 1944

About this postcard

Pine boughs fill the view, needles and open cones set against a pale sky. A four-line verse printed alongside beckons the reader to "those fragrant realms of noble trees" and to Wisconsin's "restful pines," presenting the northwoods as a healthful place to linger. The wording matched how northern Wisconsin's lake country was sold in the early twentieth century: clean air, evergreen shade, and a quiet change from the city. Milwaukee's E. C. Kropp Co. was a prolific publisher of view cards, and pine scenes like this one carried the state's northwoods to mailboxes well outside the region.