Vermont Post Office Pictures

For the past year I have been traveling through Vermont taking pictures of its post offices.  The goal is to be able to document all 270+ post offices.  

I think that the Fair Haven (Rutland County) post office is the most unusual design that I have photographed so far.  Definitely a modern design.

Coventry (Orleans County) is a small post office located in a private home.  But I love the gingerbread design on the eaves and on the side porches.  Such an inviting post office.

When I return home, I print the picture on envelopes and send to the post office for copies of their postmark.  Currently, I have about 90 such envelopes and hope to do at least another 90 this summer while it's easy to get around the State of Vermont.

New Pictorial Cancels in April

There are 2 pictorial cancels being used in Vermont in April.

the 1st is from Norwich and honors Hannah Kearney, a Norwich native who won the Gold medal in Ladies Moguls at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in British Columbia this past February. A similar cancel was used the same day at Hanover, NH where Kearney went to High School.

The other is from Vergennes and is used at the Boy Scout Camporee held at Button Bay State Park to honor the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

All the 2010 pictorials used so far are listed at my website:

http://www.glennestus.com/VTCancels/2010cancels/vt2010.html

Brookfield (Orange County) Vermont Cancel

One of the more popular postal history collecting interests are cancels that show County Names and/or Postmaster Names.

Vermont postal historian Bill Lizotte did a recap of all such Vermont cancels in the August 2009 issue of The Vermont Philatelist. In his listing Brookfield (Orange County) is one of the rarer examples from Vermont. Yesterday at the Stamp Show in Quechee, I purchased the above Return Registered-Letter Receipt. This is the only example of this postmark known. It was originally reported in The Vermont Philatelist in August 1970. As a matter of fact, lightly penciled on the back of the receipt is a notation that the example is unique and had been reported to the VPS.

This item fits into 2 of my collecting interests: County/Postmaster cancels as well as Star Cancels.

If you interested in County/Postmaster cancels, the Vermont Philatelic Society website has a complete recap of all the current information: http://www.vermontps.org/CountyPostmaster/VTCountyPostmaster.html

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).

Vermont Last Day Covers

Last Day of the North Derby, Vermont Post Office

My previous two blogs have been concerned with 19th Century material. Let's examine some 20th Century material. The February 2010 issue of the Vermont Philatelist, the official journal of the Vermont Philatelic Society has a lead article by Vermont postal historian Bill Lizotte about the Last Day Covers of Vermont. At the current time there are about 100 post offices recorded with last day covers from 1930 to the 2010. Lizotte notes that another 30 post offices were also closed in that time period for which no last day covers have been located.

Other articles in the Vermont Philatelist are a survey of Vermont 1847 Stamped Covers based on the recent auction at Siegels as well the 2009 "Muppet Letters to Santa" DVD promotion from Burlington and White River Junction processing plants.

If you would like a sample pdf of the February 2010 VP, email me at gestus@vermontps.org

I have also created an Internet Bonus on a series of articles written in the 1960s about the 1847 stamps used in Vermont. It's at the society webpage: http://www.vermontps.org