Postage-Stamp Post Office
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #120
Fun entry today. You may have heard of the smallest post office branch in the United States, in Ochopee, Florida.
It looks like this (pictured in 2018; credit Flickr/ucumari photography, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)
Here are its immediate surroundings:
I sometimes say I grew up in a “remote small town” in central New Jersey. The fact is, I probably don’t know remote.
Here it is within south Florida; it’s basically in the middle of a wilderness area!
From the description of the Flickr photo above: “The post office is currently fully functional, serving the surrounding populations of Miccosukee and Seminole Indians. The local post clerk is often asked for the famous Ochopee post mark.” If you have a friend who loves mail, send them a letter from this place!
And the building. It looks, pretty much, like a shack. Well, that’s because it is! From the USPS official website:
The smallest Post Office is located in Ochopee, FL (34141) and is 61.3 square feet. The building used to be a storage facility for irrigation pipes of an adjacent tomato farm. It was converted into a Post Office in 1953, after a fire that destroyed a previous Post Office and general store.
I love the Post Office. It’s one of the last vestiges of government providing something for everyone that feels pretty much apolitical. It’s not perfect, but it works. And it still penetrates every last part of the country. It’s a promise.
Sometimes people step back and talk about the marvel of smartphones or supermarkets or something. Sometimes I think how amazing it is that a letter can get from New York City to some rural town or a house on a gravel road in three days. That’s a kind of marvel.
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Driven past this many times, but never thought to mail a letter! What a wonderful idea! Maybe a tiny post card from the tiniest post office?
I think there is an independent film to be made that fictionalizes that post office!