Long lines and a backlog of packages have been the main story at Island post offices this summer, as postal workers scramble to keep up with unprecedented demand.
On Sunday night the Postoffice building at West Tisbury was burned to the ground. The fire was caused by an overheated chimney in an ell of the main building, Mr. James P. West and family occupying this tenement. Mrs. P. L. Cleveland occupied another part of the building, while the postoffice was on the lower floor. All the government property of the value was saved. Mrs. Cleveland wishes to thank all the kind neighbors and friends who so bravely assisted her at the time of the fire, and she assures them their efforts are greatly appreciated.
Forced out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, John Hirt and his wife sought refuge with family on Martha's Vineyard. Ten years later, Mr. Hirt, the new West Tisbury postmaster, is still calling the Vineyard home.
There are daily experiences of Island life, such as being on a first-name basis with just about everyone, that become routine so gently we are hardly aware of their idiosyncratic aspect. We take for granted having to wait in a line of cars while a boat is hauled across the road, or seeing swooping gulls open scallop shells by dropping them on the road in front of us, or knowing that when we get out of a movie at 10 p.m., the only place to go is home. But the cherry on top of this quirky Vineyard confection is our town post offices.
