Editor’s Staff
Help Us Solve
the Mystery of this Card #4
The world famous American poet and playwright Gertrude Stein moved to Paris in 1903. One of her best known works, which she created in 1913 was entitled Sacred Emily. The poem contains Stein’s most quoted line: “A rose, is a rose, is a rose.” General acceptance of the line suggests that a rose is a rose and there is little that can be done to change it. A rose is a rose, not a car or a hat or a girl. Therefore, it is absolute truth that naming a girl Rose does not make her one.
In Paris, then, it did not matter where the rose was or who owned it.
I am sorry to say, the only thing I can tell you about this month’s mystery card is, “It’s a rock, it’s a rock, it really is a rock.” It’s a big rock. But, to solve this mystery we need to learn, where the rock is, how it got there, and how-on-earth was it broken the way it is.
The image is a real-photo, evidenced by its silver-halide luster. There is a name at the right edge that when magnified reads: STOKES. From nearly four decades of experience with postcards, your editor suggests that the card is from the 1910s or 1920s.
Regrettably, better clues are unavailable. If you have the good fortune to know or learn anything about this rock, please share. Contact Postcard History’s editor at editor@postcardhistory.net.
Looking at this picture – it tells me this: I see deciduous trees which tells me it is in the north as opposed to palm treed areas. I also see a bunch of small rocks at the base as if the large rock had pushed them. That leads me to believe that this large rock was carried by a glacial flow at some time. The crack was probably started a long, long, long time ago and rain and cold and snow and ice eventually won the battle and the crack got larger until it split entirely. I would think glacial… Read more »
Does anyone recognize the style of hats the men are wearing? They say vaguely Central Asia to me.
The line in “Sacred Emily” is actually “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” The first “Rose” in the quote refers to a person. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_is_a_rose_is_a_rose_is_a_rose
It’s near The Hague, Lake George:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PSM_V68_D212_Cleft_glacial_boulder_near_hague_lake_george.png
More details here:
https://timbitsblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/wonder-4-split-rock/
Wow! That is amazing that you found this. I just checked out that wikimedia.org database and it is wonderful.
This is great fun. I tried it for the railroad footbridge but came up without anything. Have you tried that one?
Thank you, it was not difficult. Which bridge do you mean? Where is it written about?
It is the first card in this Mystery Card series. Go to the search box and key MYSTERY, then you have a choice of cards 1 to 4. You got 4, and 2 – 3 are solved, but 1 is still a mystery. It is a footbridge over railroad tracks. The signage does not look to me to be in the US. Not sure.
I checked. No, unfortunately I don’t know this place.
Maybe My Great Grandfather…..Bronx NY 2010 Thomas X. Casey at the Split Rock
What do you think? Same rock?
I couldn’t find a story about Lake George and that rock, but I did find a different one, that looks possibly to be the last two? The first card, the original question, appears to be embedded in a hillside and looks larger.
Or are there three? 😉
https://ossininghistoryontherun.com/2020/04/12/split-rock-and-anne-hutchinson/#:~:text=Split%20Rock%20is%20a%20glacial%20boulder,%20divided%20in,of%20the%20Siwanoy%20Native%20American%20tribe%20in%201643.
That is Split Rock on Lake George in Hague, New York