Vermont's Olympic Medalists

3 Vermont women were medalists at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The USPS has decided to honor them with special cancellations at celebrations in their home areas.

On March 21, celebrations were held for Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark, both medalists in Ladies' Halfpipe snowboarding.

According to recent information pictorial cancels will be used at Norwich, VT AND Hanover, NH to honor Hannah Kearney who won the Gold medal in Women's Downhill Moguls.

If you're interested in Vermont pictorial cancels, I have created a number of webpages showing such cancels for the last 18 years. They are located at http://www.glennestus.com/VTCancels/VTPictorials.html

Centre Rutland PO closing

Postal History is always being made. 

Local news sources are reporting that the Centre Rutland Post Office will be closed by the end of March, 2010.  PO Office Box holders will now have to get their mail from the West Rutland PO down about 2 miles from the Centre Rutland Post Office.

When I visited the Centre Rutland Post Office in October 2009, I was appalled at the condition of the building it was in and also the state of the parking lot.  Pot holes everywhere.

As you can see from the attached scan, the PO was the only business in the strip mall and the cancellation was atroucious.

VT PH Sampler: 1851s

In 1851, the postage rates were reduced to 3c if you prepaid your letter. If you sent your letter unpaid the recipient had to pay 5c to receive it. This necessitated a new issue of postage stamps including a 3c George Washington stamp.

A classic Washington bust design was pictured on the 3c stamp which was used until the beginning of the Civil War in both imperforate (1851) and perforated versions (18.

Examples shown are from East Wallingford (unusual oval) and Middlebury (blue paid cancel).