The last post office in Minisink Hills, PA...ever.

Now the site of Popcorn Buddha...

http://blog.evankalish.com/2011/03/postal-mortem-minisink-hills-pa.html?m=1

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Postal Mortem: Minisink Hills, PA

Welcome to the first in a series of Going Postal entries about my experiences in eastern Pennsylvania.

My entries in this blog have focused on post offices that were open at the time of my visitation. While planning a route for my present eastern Pennsylvania trip (which also took me to 18 active post offices today), I discovered an office that was discontinued back in 2009: Minisink Hills, PA.

The location, in a strip mall across the street from an elementary school, still bears the hallmarks of a standard post office: a rear door and loading platform for mail carriers, the flagpole out front, and a handicapped ramp. Here's the building as it now stands:



Located a grand total of 0.8 driving miles from the post office that absorbed its mail delivery, Shawnee on Delaware, and 1.8 miles from Delaware Water Gap, PA, it's probable that the services of this independent post office weren't considered necessary to the community. It's the author's suspicion that a leasing dispute sealed the deal for the closure of the facility. Of course, the site remains unoccupied two years after the office's closing.

Upon closer inspection of the building, one can see the wear marks from the signage lettering:



Neither I nor the Postmark Collectors Club (which maintains the most accurate Directories of post offices throughout the country) knew the date of discontinuance for this office. Fortunately, taped inside the front door was this note from the last Postmaster:



An employee in East Stroudsburg informed me yesterday over the phone that Minisink Hills had been closed for about two years. Sure enough, January 23, 2009 was a Friday!

Some interesting things...

Please click for full-size image...

An evening walk through Minisink Hills, PA

Getting bored of a predictable walk around "the block" I decided to walk down Hillside Drive to Gap View Drive then out onto River Road and to Laurel Hill Cemetary which is behind St. Mark's Lutheran Church. Some of the tombstones have fallen over and some have been worn down to crooked sun-bleached and weather-worn little stubs that jut up from the earth like teeth trying to chew something that is no longer there. I walked up what used to be the road to the driveway / road that leads to the church parking lot. I followed the road / driveway, hopped over the chain with a half dozen private property signs and walked up to what was last called Shawnee Academy. The many buildings on the property have sat empty for a few years. Previous names of the place have been Wordsworth and Marthworth. It's alway been a place for troubled kids. I was inside the lobby of the main building in 1987 when I had a job delivering office supplies for Town Office Supplies in Stroudsburg. It was very creepy and very, very silent as I walked around a bit taking photos. About 10 or 15 years ago I remember seeing a teenaged girl walking on Gap View Drive near River Road. Suddenly a long white van pulled up next to her and two men got out and wrestled her into the van. I think the van had markings on the side for Wordsworth. As I was walking home on River Road I noticed something very odd-looking and white about 30 feet off the side of the road. I walked through a bunch of dead branches to investigate. It was the perfectly dried and sun-bleached pelvis, spine, ribs, and skull of an adult deer. It probably received a mortal wound from a speeding car and crawled to this spot and took its last breaths. Poor thing. Near the skull were fresh deer droppings.

Highest point in Minisink Hills, PA

I decided to once again attempt to climb to the highest point in Minisink Hills, PA today. If it was true that early settler, George Zimmerman carved his initials into stone up there, I would find it. I approached the hill from behind the old Schmidling house across the street from where I live. It was a very steep slope to the top and the ground was very slippery so I slipped a lot. I found a thick three foot piece of wood that I used for balance. At the peek I found some names carved into the stones but I can't make out any kind of name and the only carving I was certain of said "56" which I am sure was put there by a hiker in 1956. From the peek I could see across the street from the elementary school, the paper mill, the Delaware Water Gap, the sewage treatment plant and Interstate 80. I think I am correct when I wrote in a previous post that the rock used for the nearby railroad crossing over the Brodhead Creek was taken from this hill.

George Zimmerman on the Rock

While out walking / exploring last week, I met Ed who was searching for the original location of a part of Seven Bridges Road. He told me that he had once hiked to the highest hill in Minisink Hills and saw a unique stone formation. Nearby, was a rock with the name George Zimmerman (early settler) carved upon it. Today, I tried to get to the top of that hill...and failed. About 5:30pm I walked up Hillside Drive to Route 209 to the Odd-Lot Outlet because I decided the best way to get up the hill would be to start behind Odd-Lot Outlet where people ride dirtbikes. The approach to the hill was covered with thick brush and steep. After five minutes I hit a steep slope which was very difficult to walk down so I crouched down to an almost-sitting position and kind of slid down. I could see the highest part of the hill but was so winded that I knew I didn't have it in me to make it up there. It was too late in the day to complete the hike and stupidly, I did not bring any water, a flashlight, a whistle, and I didn't tell anyone where I was going. To me, it looks like the stone used to build the nearby railroad crossing over the Broadhead Creek was taken from this hill. Hopefully, one day I will return to this hill and complete the hike and take photos of the rock with George Zimmerman's name carved upon it. George Zimmerman is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetary which is behind St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Minisink Hills.

Then and Now: The Minisink Hills post office and store

The old post office and store were on Post Office Road and are now private homes. The post office wass the tiny building on the left.