Uniquely Southern Honeymoon Destinations

Honeymoons provide a special time for couples, but they don't have to break the budget. Consider regional desinations for flavor, romance, and fun.

Your honeymoon doesn't have to be exotic or expensive to provide a memorable and romantic getaway for your and your new mate. Staying close to home will help the budget, and if you live anywhere in the southeastern United States, you'll want to explore some of these unique locations to help you create memories that will last a lifetime.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Galleries full of beautiful, imaginative pieces created by local artists set the atmosphere in this Ozark town. Eureka Springs earns its reputation as one of the top small towns for artists, and the quality you’ll see in the numerous shops shows why.

Just the layout of the town is a work of art, sidewalks and shops wind upward into the mountainside; town blocks are determined by levels in the mountain rather than distance.

The Great Passion Play is a “don’t miss” in Eureka Springs from April to October, and Opera in the Ozarks provides eight weeks of productions during the summer months.

Best time to visit: Spring and summer.

Tarpon Springs, Florida

The sidewalks of Tarpon Springs sweep you into another world; a world full of sights, sounds, and experiences to awaken all your senses. While strolling along the sidewalk at water’s edge, sniff the salty breeze from the Gulf of Mexico and admire the contrast of fishing boats and luxury yachts docked end-to-end. Sample Greek delicacies such as moussaka, grape-leaf dolmas, and the honey-drenched baklava; absorb the heavy Greek accents of the friendly, casual shop keepers and restaurant owners. Visit the Sponge Museum to squish a mountain of soft sponges to find the perfect souvenir and take a fun boat tour to learn the history and mechanics of sponge diving.

Best time to visit: Year-round, although planned events are less common in August because of the onslaught of tourists.

Danville, Kentucky

Farmers Markets, vineyards, orchards, and u-pick farms in this heart of Kentucky create a cozy Americana destination for your honeymoon. Bed and breakfasts, tea rooms, lakeside cabins, and museums welcome you to Danville with open arms and hearts. Be sure to pick up a walking tour map to explore the history of the town. Immerse yourself into the richness and beauty of Bluegrass Country with a driving tour through the rolling hills.

Best time to visit: June - the Brass Band Festival brings out the best the town has to offer each year.

Highlands, North Carolina

Perched in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Highlands is a quaint town full of art galleries, fine dining, and outdoor recreation. Open-air enthusiasts will find Highlands a dream-come-true with magnificent waterfalls, abundant fly-fishing holes, challenging golf courses, winding hiking trails, white-water rapids, and sheer cliffs made for rappelling; the activities are endless. For a bit of honeymoon romance, be sure to check out Bridal Veil Falls, drive-through waterfalls just two and a half miles from town.

Because of the town’s high elevation, temperatures stay relatively cool, even during Southern summers, so layered clothing is the key to staying comfortable.

Best time to visit: This depends on your interests; just remember if you visit during the winter months, there is a possibility of ice and snow so go prepared.

Exploring these destinations for what makes them unique will help create a one-of-a-kind honeymoon that you and your spouse will treasure forever - and possibly return to for a future anniversary. Just don't forget your camera!

Novelty Postcards of the Early 1900s

In the vast range of postcards available in the early 1900s, novelty postcards stand out as being humorous and ingenious. They are highly collectible today.

The postcard craze was at its peak in the years from the beginning of the 20th century to the end of World War 1. Real photo cards, embroidered silk cards, advertising postcards and greetings postcards were sent in the millions every week. Novelty cards were among the most popular.

What are Novelty Postcards?

Novelty postcards differed from ordinary postcards in that they had something extra special about them. These might be the materials from which the cards were made, the items attached to them or the way they were constructed with moving parts.

Novelty postcards were often fragile and easily damaged. They were usually sent in envelopes to protect them in the post rather than just being written on and mailed as ordinary postcards often were.

Examples found today in good to excellent condition are eagerly sought-after by collectors and may command high prices in the market.

Novelty Postcards Made of Unusual Materials

Not only paper or light cardboard was used in the manufacture of some novelty postcards. Thin cork, card coated in sand, leather and celluloid are examples of other materials in which cards were produced.

Celluloid is a translucent, synthetic material made by combining camphor and nitrocellulose. The celluloid postcards had a front made of this and a back made of light card. Decorative details and wording were embossed in the celluoid then hand-painted.

Postcards made of light-sensitive card gave a 'trick' effect. When the postcard was held up to the light, a drawing might be revealed. Or if the card was turned slowly from side to side, a different picture might come into focus from the one that was obvious.

Perhaps the most novel of the novelty postcards is one I saw in a museum. It was a biscuit, part of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers' rations at Gallipoli. Known to the troops as 'dog biscuits' because of their size and density, these biscuits were so hard that they could break teeth. This one had been written on and sent home as a postcard!

Attachments to Novelty Postcards

A whole sub-set of novelty postcards was produced, ones with attachments. Extra bits and bobs were stitched or glued to the cardboard to give a 3-dimensional effect designed to delight the recipient.

The most common attachments were:

real feathers on a photograph or drawing of a birdreal hair on a picture or photo of a womanbrass ornaments such as a tiny pair of clasped hands or a crosshats made of felt, perhaps adorned with a single feathersqueakers embedded in the card with instructions to 'press me'. For example, a photo of a baby might have a squeaker attached. When pressed it sounds as if the baby cried.sequins, lace and glitter were stuck onto greetings cards

Mechanical Novelty Postcards

Another very popular category of novelty cards was the 'mechanicals'. These were postcards with moving parts. Some of these were very ingenious. Many of them were humorous.

Examples of how mechanical postcards worked are:

a turning wheel spun to give a different view or characterfold-out or flip-up layers to reveal inner messageslevers to change a picture into something differentpaper tabs or strings pulled to make one part of the postcard move e.g eyes to move from side to side, part of a scene to slide back and show an inside view, a dress to move on and off a woman's body.

Collecting novelty postcards can be fun to do as there was such a variety of forms produced. They are an interesting category of early 20th century paper and ephemera collectibles.

Sources:

Hughes, T. G.Bell & Sons London 1977Opie, R. New Cavendish Books, London, 2002O'Neill, V. Yesterday's Paper John Furphy, Castle Hill, 2007