Happy Groundhog Day!

Postmarked August 1943 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Well, it’s Groundhog Day tomorrow – that whimsical holiday break in the dead of winter celebrating the weather forecasting ability of Punxsutawney Phil and giving us all hope for an early Spring.

Seeing how I like to blog about things from a fifty-years-ago perspective, I reviewed Journal microfilm from February 1969 to see what went down in Gobbler’s Knob that year.

But the newspaper completely ignored Groundhog Day 1969 in its news reports! There was neither hide nor hair (or fur) of Phil in the news before, during or after the holiday. Oh well.

(I already posted a story from Groundhog Day 1959 here.)

Anyway, here are some vintage postcards featuring Phil and other groundhogs to help put you in the holiday spirit (all courtesy of Ebay).

From 1948

This guy is on a lot of postcards, including one for Shenandoah National Park

1940s

Here’s one from 1962.

And lastly, here is the most bizarre rendering of a groundhog I’ve ever seen, on a 1907 Easter postcard. It’s as if the artist had no idea what one looked like, so he combined a camel, a chimpanzee and the tail of a sheepdog to create his unappealing illustration. Yecchh!

For more Groundhog Day fun, check out some of my old posts!