This site is our effort to document the history of our region. One method of documenting this history is through our postcard collection. Think about it for a minute ... American history begins in Hampton Roads, a strong Military presence has been part of our life since our genesis as a nation, and we have always been a favorite vacation resort. Each of these segments of our tourism industry (history, military and beaches & resorts) is well documented through postcards. The postcards provide a visitor's perspective about Hampton Roads. Like the telephone, interstate highways, or e-mail of today, postcards were used frequently to "drop a line" to someone at home during the "penny postcard" era. The majority of my postcards are from this era. This was generally from May 1, 1873 to December 31, 1951 for Postal Cards (Issued by the Postal Service) and July 1, 1898 to December 31, 1951 for Postcards (Privately manufactured). Each category will have a thumbnail of the postcard(s).  Click on the thumbnail to view a full size picture of the postcard, the message* (if any) and other information. If you find a postcard you would like to have a copy of, you can download it to your computer. Select one of the categories to begin your mini-tour of Hampton Roads and its history