Gloucester Point Post Office to Celebrate 130 Years

Postmaster Holding Cachet Design Contest

HAMPTON ROADS, VA — On August 28, 1877, Sarah Hughes was appointed the Postmaster, Gloucester Point. In the following 130 years, there have only been six other postmasters, including Mary Harrison-Jones, who has held that position for more than 20 years. Harrison-Jones and her employees, wanting to do some special to recognize and celebrate the history of their post office, decided to host an August 28th open house and offer a pictorial postmark to commemorate the anniversary.

The pictorial postmark, designed by employee Janet Johnson, features the new Coleman Bridge and the old ferry that transported mail to the Post Office prior to a bridge being built. Pictorial postmarks feature words and graphics related to a special event and are applied with a hand canceling device, and because they are issued for special community events, the postmark is available for only 30 days.

Harrison-Jones has researched the history of her Post Office, and is creating a display with a scrapbook of her findings as well as postal antiques. “I hope any of our customers with pictures of the Gloucester Point Post Office, Ferry Dock or Bridge building, or any postal memorabilia will think about bringing those in as part of the display,” said Harrison-Jones, “It’s amazing the things people tuck away that eventually become a part of our town’s history.”

Employees are planning to decorate the lobby in a festive manner to coincide with the new “Celebrate” stamp available for sale on August 17. Harrison-Jones said the “Celebrate” and “Alpine Tundra” souvenir sheet will be the newest stamp issues available for a pictorial postmark, but she will also have additional stamps for customers to choose from. She also plans a design contest and is encouraging customers to create their own cachet, which is an envelope with an event-related design or picture, to be postmarked. Harrison-Jones said her employees will be judging the cachets and suggests creating two cachets – one the customer can take back immediately and one for the Post Office to display through September.

For those interested in obtaining a pictorial postmark but cannot attend the celebration, Harrison-Jones said customers have 30 days to obtain the postmark by mail.& She said they only need to affix First-Class stamps to the envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to: 130th Anniversary, Postmaster, 1451 George Washington Memorial Hwy., Gloucester Point, VA 23062-9998. After applying the pictorial postmark, the envelopes will be returned through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark, and all mail-in requests must be postmarked by September 27, 2007.