Postcard:Cottonwood Inn, Conesus Lake, Valkenburg, N.Y.

Travelers often collected postcards of the inns and hotels they visited. At small inns, such as the one pictured here, guests enjoyed tranquil landscapes, quaint towns, and fresh air. Staying at an inn was one of the main attractions of a trip, as it offered vacationers an escape from daily life but with all the comforts of home and sometimes even more.