It's actually getting a little tricky to catalogue these travels, because even when I'm not visiting new post offices I often end up revisiting P.O.s I've been to previously and just taking new photographs. Oftentimes there are changes to the appearance of the facility (new signage, new siding, a new paint job, etc.), or an outright change in location, that result in a new image being added to the Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC)'s Online Post Office Photo Collection. On several outings this year I ended up blending new post office visits with revisits. Thus I actually keep TWO counts: new post offices visited and total visited (including revisits). Revisits do NOT count toward my total counts of P.O.s visited. Whenever I give counts without specification it refers to new visits.
As always I continue to amass stories from wonderful places around the country, yet finding myself lacking the energy to write blog entries about them. My continued apologies for those who have followed this blog for a long time that it is a shell of its former self in that regard. The calendar has effectively absorbed my research and writing energies these past few years (I think of it as writing 12 mini-blog entries a year).
Back to business! I was able to take multiple, generally smaller trips in 2024, though three yielded considerable postal visits: a weeklong trip again beginning and ending in Kansas City (MO/KS/IA), wherein I visited 136 new post offices, and a weeklong, trip beginning and ending in Ontario, California (which in my case enabled a cheaper airfare and car rental than from LAX), which resulted in 123 new post offices visited (142 overall). The highlight of that trip was an afternoon at Sony Pictures Studios for the First Day ceremony of the release of the Alex Trebek stamp, featuring, among others, current Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings.
Jean Trebek speaking at the Alex Trebck First Day stamp ceremony, Culver City, CA:
A trip to volunteer for several days at the Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC)'s National Postmark Museum Work Week led to my being able to fill in several gaps in my postal visits map for northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania. I visited 171 total post offices on that trip, 116 of which were new.
Photo from re-visit of Fairmount City, PA post office (see how it looked, when it had a bit more character, in 2001 or 2011):
The Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC)'s annual convention was held in York, Pennsylvania in August, and I photographed 58 post offices at that time (48 of which were new). Here's just a random scene from the event.
Visiting the American Philatelic Society's 2024 Great American Stamp Show in Hartford, Connecticut enabled me to sell a part of my father's stamp collection, and 12 new post office photos (though no actual new post office visits).
In September I fulfilled a longtime mission of visiting the Community Post Office (CPO) at the top of Mount Washington (see below), by way of the unique and historic Cog Railway. My lovely and patient wife put up with this as well as visits to 27 total post offices (21 new) as we both visited Acadia National Park and even a couple of post offices on nearby islands.
Late this spring I took two days to visit Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard (4 post offices and 6 P.O.s, respectively). In each instance I flew out in the morning, rented a car for a few hours, enjoyed the islands, and returned in the afternoon. (It was faster and honestly, less expensive than driving up, lodging and taking the ferries out.) I'd been to Nantucket as a child but never Martha's Vineyard / Dukes County.
Martha's Vineyard: Chilmark, Massachusetts—a.k.a. finally, I've been to every county in New England!
Finally, a unique trip to experience the April 8 eclipse took us across the border, where we experienced unbridled, glorious totality near the town in Magog, in the Eastern Townships region of southern Quebec, Canada. That trip included 49 postal visits (35 new), including six in Quebec. [Note: I do NOT include Canadian post office visits in my total visit count.]
Post Office at Pharmacie Jean Coutu #133, Magog, QC:
As always, he term post office for the purposes of this post should be interpreted broadly: it includes carrier-only facilities, freestanding mail processing facilities, and Contract Postal Units (CPUs).
By the Numbers
I visited as many as 35 post offices (32 of which were new to me) in one day in 2024, in northeast Ohio. State by state—and territory by territory:
Missouri: 128 new post offices (+4 re-visits)
Focus/Foci:Kansas City suburbs, Columbia, St. Joseph, NW corner
High Point, Missouri Community Post Office (CPO)—
Interior with operator Martha Foxworthy in March 2024, a couple of months prior to discontinuance:
California: 123 post offices (+19 re-visits)
Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Gabriel Valley
Pennsylvania: 82 post offices (+33 re-visits)
South central: York to Reading; Franklin area; rural western PA
Ohio: 79 post offices (+32 re-visits)
Northeast Ohio: Cleveland suburbs, Akron, Canton area
Vermont: 24 post offices (+5 re-visits)
Eastern and northern VT
New Hampshire: 12 post offices (+3 re-visits)
Northwestern NH
Massachusetts: 10 post offices (+3 re-visits)
Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard
Iowa: 6 post offices (+1 re-visit)
Southwest corner
Maryland: 3 post offices
Northern Harford County
Kansas: 2 post offices
Elwood and Wathena
Connecticut: 12 re-visits
[Various post offices with new locations or signage]
New York: 12 re-visits
Long Island
(Why revisit post offices on Long Island? Well, here's one reason. Here's me in front of the 1942 mural "Outdoor Sports," at the Westhampton Beach, NY post office. When I visited in 2010 USPS personnel there told me it was illegal to photograph it and basically read me the Riot Act. A local even told me it was illegal to photograph the building outside. All a load of crap. So I finally went back and took the photo when no one was around to tell me that I couldn't. A larger image, plus a close-up of the artist's signature, can be found here.)
Quebec: 6 Canadian post offices
Magog, Sherbrooke
New Jersey: 1 re-visit
Perth Amboy
Counting Counties:
I visited 20 new counties in 2024: Dukes County, MA (Martha's Vineyard) and 19 counties in central to northwestern Missouri
I'm glad folks continue to read this blog (and support it financially with the purchase of the Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places)! Have a wonderful 2025.
Evan
Busy year! Thanks for sharing and safe travels in the future
ReplyDeleteThanks as always for the recap!
ReplyDelete