POSTCARDS: December 2012

brandywinevalleytrader wrote: I must have this postcard! I've been following Franklin County postcards on eBay for seven and a half years now and this is the first of White Pine Reservation I've come across. White Pine was restricted to those infected with tuberculosis. As you probably know. fresh air was thought to promote healing of tubercular lungs at the time. My grandfather Harry's older brother Ben came down with the disease in 1903 and lived at White Pine until he died the following year. His brother Jake and his mother also died of it. Ben's obituary says he "built a cottage for himself" at White Pine, which was set on a mountain overlooking the two-block-square hamlet of Mont Alto, midway between Waynesboro and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Our family had three-floor department stores in both of the latter towns by 1903. Virtually all the cards I've purchased--less than a dozen--relate to the history of our family. One, the only really mint condition card we have, was actually based upon (painted over) a photograph from 1907 or so snapped directly in front of my grandparents' house in Chambersburg--nine or ten years before they moved in! The road hadn't yet been paved, there's a horse and buggy out front, and two men, one of them clearly resembling Charles Evans Hughes because of his attire and elaborate mustache, are walking toward the camera.

~ brandywinevalleytrader added the following links. One site has some remarkable photographs (and postcards) of the former Sanitarium that make one wonder why Penn State doesn't rehabilitate the buildings (if they haven't already--that isn't clear from the site) and turn the site into an asset to the community; the other is an article about the Sanitarium from a 1908 newspaper my family advertised in extensively.

White Pine Sanitarium. - Google News

Amy Heiden Photography

The History of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis in the nineteenth century was known as the "the white plague." Bovine tuberculosis, which was transfered to humans via cow's milk, would attack the bones, possibly leaving a patient crippled. Pulmonary tuberculosis, an airborne form, attacked the lungs and an infected person could spread the disease each time they coughed or spoke. At the time, the disease was difficult to treat since most patients would not see a doctor if they were experiencing symptoms (cough, lethargy, decline in health or pain in the chest) but most of the time, those who were infected wouldn't immediately exhibit any symptoms.
An infected patient experiencing the horrors of the disease would lose their appetite, cough severely, run a fever and have difficulty breathing. As the disease progressed towards the final stages, the body would waste away and the lung tissue would break up and be coughed up. The result was hollow faces with recessed eyes and shriveled bodies.

In 1882 Robert Kroch discovered the tubercle bacillus strain, which put a whole new spin on the treatment of the disease. After his discovery, the thought was that tuberculosis was preventable and curable. Most doctors treated patients by prescribing a change of location, fresh air, rest and excersise. This caused patients to be removed from their homes, where they could possibly infect others, and placed in a Sanatorium.