103 years old this week!

Boardwalk and Beach, looking North from 8th St., Ocean City, NJ
Boardwalk and Beach, looking North from 8th St., Ocean City, NJ

A lot of people find their way here to look at old postcard images.

This scan of a 103 year old postcard is not the oldest one we display, but it may be one of the most rare.

This highly collectable philatelic find is one of very few surviving pieces of air mail flown in a Wright Brothers built biplane during a short-lived experiment from August 3-10, 1912 between Ocean City and Stone Harbor, New Jersey.

Postcard with handwritten notation VIA AEROPLANE
Postcard with handwritten notation VIA AEROPLANE

“The First Air Mail Flights in South Jersey – 1912,”  Harlan B. Radford, Jr.’s authoritative 3-page story of those historic pioneer flights of the early “AERIAL U.S. MAIL SERVICE” is liberally illustrated with items from his philatelic collection.

(The printable PDF file here contains links to larger image files.) – JMc

Published by

John McCormick

Teacher at Riverton School 1974-2019, author, amateur historian, Historical Society of Riverton Board Member 2007-2023, newsletter editor 2007-2023, website editor 2011-2023

3 thoughts on “103 years old this week!”

  1. I enjoyed the 1905 postcard of Ocean City, NJ, boardwalk & beach looking north from 8th St, but where is the Music Pier? Since it’s located at Moorlyn Terrace, perhaps it’s south of the image.
    Recently I found out that the Sindia Apts. on 18th St. & Boardwalk opened in 1940.
    Thank you for all your information!

    1. Hi, Carolyn,
      Thanks for visiting rivertonhistory.com. I am glad the postcard brought back a memory for you. I’ll see if I can get an answer for you.
      Regards,
      John McCormick

      1. Carolyn – Website contributor Harlan Radford sends his regards and this answer.
        RE: Music Pier at Ocean City. The Music Pier as we know it today was not constructed until 1928-29. The vintage post card showing the Ocean City boardwalk view to which you refer was postmarked in 1912 and the photograph for this particular image was probably snapped at least a year or more before the actual date of mailing.

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