Nice Touches: Oak Ridge, PA

South of I-80 in west-central Pennsylvania lies yet a small-town post office that had been threatened by closure as part of RAOI -- perhaps until this afternoon. I had the pleasure of exploring the Redbank Valley and heading down to the tiny town of Oak Ridge a few months back. The town is home to approximately 200 people. There were several aspects of this office that made it unique. Let's have a look around!

Oak Ridge: what you see heading into town:


You'll note one of the wonderful things about the state of Pennsylvania: so many of its small towns have signs leading you to its post office. And can you blame them? As I've said on multiple occasions: The rural post office is the difference between a bunch of houses and a community.

Let's head to the office itself. The first thing you might notice upon arrival is the cushy chair. There's actually a mini-cozy couch outside the office for its patrons to sit down -- or perhaps wait for the rain to let up, under a porch roof. I've seen benches and chairs, but never anything quite like that.



Earlier that weekend I saw a faded hand-painted sign noting Mail Pouch Tobacco. And wouldn't you know it, outside here was a Mail Pouch Tobacco!


It was disheartening to see this sign on the bulletin board:


But alas, it seems as though the Oak Ridge post office will be able to serve the community for at least a little while longer, although the proposal is to reduce its service to two hours daily.

Here's a final look: