This postcard is nearly a century old.

Postage was a one-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp. The cancellation mark includes not only the date, but also time of day.

It was sent from Milford, Connecticut, to New Haven. A young father on religious retreat dashed off a note to his first born.

The postcard was cancelled at 3:30pm on July 8, 1931. A Wednesday.

On the back, Grandpa wrote this note to Mom, his toddler daughter:

“Be a good girl, and be walking around for Dad when he gets home.”

I asked Dad about this treasured postcard the year after Mom passed away. He remembered the Aquinas Retreat on Charles Island was a Catholic retreat center. It was open for less than a decade, just in the 1930s.

Dad guessed that Grandpa was there on an overnight church retreat.

Here’s that sweet face Grandpa was missing (he missed Grandma’s, too, no doubt!):

Charles Island has a fascinating history. Access to it – via a rock-and-shell causeway – is only possible a few hours a day, during low tide. It’s now a bird sancturary, and part of Silver Sands State Park.

Legends from the early 1600s forward tell the story of various inhabitants leaving the island despite attempts to make a home there. There’s a story about it being a torpedo test site for the U.S Navy in 1884.

There’s also a story about Captain Kidd landing on the island and leaving behind part of his pirated treasure.

But the only treasure Grandpa was looking forward to discovering was his darling Joan, toddling toward him as he burst through the door upon his return to their Fair Haven home.

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