Tucked away on a shelf in Washington’s George H. and Laura E. Brown Library is a treasure box of postcards depicting days gone by in North Carolina.

From Asheville to Zebulon, the state’s history is depicted on cards bearing images of historic sites and other points of interest. The cards once sold for as little as a penny but are now considered priceless by many collectors and historians.

Filed among the others is a small yet interesting selection of postcards featuring Beaufort County scenes. Those cards — highlighting points of interest in Washington, Bath and Belhaven — offer a unique look at life along the Pamlico and Pungorivers a century ago.

Pictured are long gone businesses, pleasant landscapes and beautiful homes, including one that later became River Forest Manor.

The postcard collection is just the tip of the iceberg that is the John. A. Wilkinson History Room housed at Brown Library. That room is a haven for local historians and genealogists, who make good use of the books, manuscripts, microfilm, newspaper clippings and other research materials found there.

More on Brown Library’s history collection and Wanda Corey, the library assistant and genealogist who knows the collection like the back of her hand, will be featured in a future edition of the Washington Daily News.