Smoke Rise Postcards: Wishing You Were Here

Were you aware that postcards were once available featuring noteworthy Smoke Rise sites? Herb Fisher recently came across a few and sent me scans of them.  I think you'll enjoy them. I'm assuming these date back to the late 1940s.

Smoke Rise East Gate, Kinnelon, N.J.

The best place to start is at the Smoke Rise East Gate and this image is fabulous. As you can see from the photo, access is via one lane. Note, too, the wall along the right hand side of the access road.

The original road into Smoke Rise was what is currently the meandering exit route.

Here is the caption from the back of the postcard:

Gate - All visitors must be announced at this "Gate" leading into Smoke Rise, New Jersey's unique 5000 acre mountain-lake woodland Club Plan community of small estates. For other cards in this series in Lake Kinnelon, homes, the Inn, etc., address Smoke Rise, P.O. Box 818, Butler, N.J.

Smoke Rise's St. Hubert Chapel

This postcard of St. Hubert's Chapel gives you a sense for the view that Francis Kinney might have had of the chapel from his home with the Tiffany stained glass cross and relief of St. Hubert prominent.

Smoke Rise Beach

Yes, this is New Jersey!  Granted, not in December, and quite tropical looking. It makes me wish I were there.

Here is the caption from the postcard:

View of Smoke Rise beach and Lake Kinnelon in Kinnelon, N.J., looking toward the north with Kitty Ann Mountain, 1,156 feet elevation, and the 80ft tall stone Lookout Tower, in the background. Smoke Rise is the unique Club Residential Community on Route 23 in northern New Jersey, 30 miles from New York City.

Thanks, Herb, for sharing these.

Other postcards of Smoke Rise exist, of the Inn - for example. They exist of other noteworthy locations, establishments and points of interest not just in Kinnelon, but also around Northern New Jersey and beyond.  After all what better way to promote specific places and to memorialize your presence there.

Slightly different than how we do so today via smartphone cameras and other digital devices.

If you were creating a postcard collection today, what would you capture in photos not just in Smoke Rise, but elsewhere in and around Kinnelon?