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A Post Office
(sort of) for The Point
 Near
Hancock Point, along
Post Office Road,
sits a small booth of a building. It is sort of a
postage-stamp-sized post office and, in fact, isn’t even a true post
office.
For four hours a
day, Daphne Crocker sits in the single room. She was hired by the
Hancock Point Village Improvement Society four summers ago when the
Hancock postmaster decided to reduce service at Hancock Point.
With classical
music on the radio wafting out the screen doors, Crocker handles a
few basic postal operations. She sells stamps and accepts letters
and post cards. She sorts mail for the handful of Hancock Point
residents who like the tradition of receiving mail in post office
boxes. At day’s end (3:30 p.m., in her case), she drives her stack
of letters up to the real Hancock post office on Route 1.
She also is the one
Hancock Point residents turn to when they want to know what’s going
on.
“I’m supposed to
know everything about what goes on here,” Crocker says, slightly
embarrassed at the thought. “That makes me the chief gossip-monger.
“I don’t
particularly want to be known for that, but I suppose I am. Because
I do know a lot.”
Crocker even knows
the history of the small post office. As someone who has spent all
her 54 summers at Hancock Point, she should be well-versed in that.
She moved to Hancock Point year-round in 1994.
Once, the post
office was connected with a general store, she said. “I remember
getting ice cream there as a child,” she added.
Then she backed up
to clarify her gossip-monger status, not sure of the lingering
impression she may have left.
“I’d say the gossip
is who’s here and who’s not here. Nothing juicy or anything.
“It’s actually
things like knowing when the next memorial service is. We have had
two, so far, this year. We have one next week, and another in
August.
“We have lost five
so far, unfortunately.”
Four years ago,
Hancock Point nearly lost its post office services. When the Society
took over the small building, Crocker was hired to handle the mail
and …well… greet and gossip.
“That’s why I got
the job,” she said. “Because I know everyone.”
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