Information Sheet

 

 

R         George, Vincent, Mrs.

808                  Correspondence, 1941.

                                    One folder.

 

 

 

This collection consists of three letters to Mrs. Vincent George of Lynn, Massachusetts, from her newlywed daughter, Mary, who was on her honeymoon road trip to the Grand Canyon.  One letter was written from Lebanon in Laclede County, Missouri.

 

Mary and her new husband, Dee, apparently spent the first night of their honeymoon journey at the Hotel Bancroft in Worcester, Massachusetts, from which Mary sent her parents a letter dated 2 November 1941.  This letter contains directions for handling the wedding gifts that Mary and Dee had left behind in Lynn.

 

The second letter, written on Saturday, 8 November 1941, opens with, "We have reached Lebanon, Missouri without any trouble.  This is a little town right in the middle of the Ozark Mountains. … We rode 350 miles today."  Mary commented on the many miles of cornfields in the middle west, and on seeing a pig "that looked like a pony."  They had been staying at "hotels, tourist houses, and cabins, and we find cabins the most convenient, and much cleaner than tourist houses.  The cabins out this way are beautiful.  The one we're in now isn't one of the best, by any means, but we have heat, twin beds, a shower, and a garage attached. …  Some are made of rock and are very beautiful."

 

The last letter is on the stationery of the El Vado Court in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It is dated 11 November 1941.  Mary and Dee had driven that day from Amarillo, Texas ("a terrible city"), and were staying at the El Vado.  Their adobe-style cottage was "very nice inside with a large bedroom, tile shower and bathroom, a large closet, and garage attached.  And all we pay is $2.50."  Mary commented on her first sightings of tumbleweeds, cowboys, Indians, and the Rocky Mountains.  "We saw things that I had seen only in the movies. …  What I am experiencing is just like a fairy story."  The next day they were headed for the Grand Canyon, and then back to Massa­chusetts.

 

All of the letters include their covers.  Mary's new surname is never given.

 

 

 

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