Colesville NJ Postcard Highest Village Wm H Broadwell Halftone c1940s Church For Sale

This sepia-toned halftone printed postcard, published by the Wm. H. Broadwell Company of Newark, New Jersey, presents a panoramic view of Colesville, an unincorporated community within Wantage Township, Sussex County. The image captures a quiet rural thoroughfare, with a white clapboard church anchoring the left side of the frame, its steeple rising above the tree line. A central dirt road recedes into the distance, flanked by a substantial general store or inn on one side and a large residence perched upon a hill to the right, its commanding presence suggesting the home of a local notable. The sky is punctuated by utility poles, marking the arrival of modern infrastructure, while the background dissolves into the rolling contours of the Kittatinny Range. The caption in the bottom margin notes Colesville as the “highest village in New Jersey,” a reference to its proximity to High Point State Park, which contains the state’s highest elevation. A small, handwritten blue ink “x” hovers in the sky above the large house, a deliberate annotation likely made by the sender.The verso reveals extensive, highly legible cursive correspondence, though the card was never posted and bears no stamp or postmark. The writer identifies the “ⓧ” on the front as marking “Howard’s (Hank’s) home,” described as “nestled in the foothills of Kittatinny Range part of the Blue Mountains.” The text offers a poignant local history, noting that Colesville was “once a very prosperous milling town” but that the “mills are all gone—so its just residential now,” providing a snapshot of early-to-mid-20th-century rural industrial decline. The writer also describes the High Point Monument—a replica of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.—as “beautiful at night with flood lights and red on the top for ‘plane protection,” referencing the installation of aviation obstruction lighting, a common safety feature on tall structures by the mid-20th century. The printer’s logo and attribution, “PHOTO BY WM. H. BROADWELL NEWARK, N. J.,” confirm Broadwell as both the photographer and publisher. Visible foxing and minor edge wear are present, consistent with its vintage, while the vibrant blue ink remains remarkably clear, preserving this idiosyncratic narrative of New Jersey’s highest village and its evolving landscape.