Good News!

 The following was posted on tonight's Front Porch Forum - good news for Cabot folks, indeed!

Cabot Post Office

Betty Ritter • Town Clerk, Cabot

Announcement

I have some very good news for postal patrons. The Cabot Post Office will be resuming all retail operations on Saturday, January 18th, 2025 for retail and POB services.

Hours will be the same:
POB and Lobby Access:
Monday-Friday: 24 hours
Saturday: 24 hours
Sunday 24 hours

Window Retail Service:
Monday-Friday: 7:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. and 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Saturday: 8-11 a.m.
Sunday closed

 Our post office has been closed for many months after asbestos was found in some of the building. The natives in town were beginning to get pretty restless so it's really good news that it is finally open again. Our mail has been going through the Marshfield post office, and that was not a very good solution for either patrons or employees. I'm sure this will be a time of celebration for everyone involved. It seems those of us who receive our mail by rural delivery were less inconvenienced than  people in the village who had boxes at the post office they couldn't use.

For many years the post office in Cabot was at the back of Earle Rogers's store. Earle was postmaster then and later his son, Jack served. Much like Hastings Store in West Danville is today, it was very convenient for folks to get their mail and pick up whatever groceries they needed all in one stop. Our post office today is located next door to that same store, now owned by Bobby Searles. The present post office is
the small white building beyond the Cabot Village Store.

Raymond Peck was the rural delivery person when I was growing up. As far back as I can remember, he delivered our mail every day - sometimes with his horse and sleigh when the roads weren't plowed as regularly as they are today. We probably had more snow back then, but also the roads were not as wide and there were places where the wind just packed snow into the road so it was next to impossible to keep them open for wheeled vehicles. A horse with a small sleigh could usually easily navigate the drifts. It could be a cold ride, though. I remember Mr. Peck had a big fur robe that covered him and most of the mail, and he wore a heavy helmet type fur-lined cap with ear flaps. I don't know how long it took him to make the rounds, but I expect most of the day. Some places would be out of the wind and not so cold, but he must have dreaded going over Cabot Plain. I don't recall seeing him using a sleigh often, but when the roads were really bad -- the mail must go through! He delivered mail in Cabot for 50 years, retiring in 1968. He is shown here receiving a certificate of appreciation from then postmaster Warren Barnett.

It is getting really cold tonight - I've felt the difference in the house and around 3:30 lowered the insulating shades. It was about 13 degrees then with some wind; now it's down to 10 degrees but the wind seems to be subsiding. We saw a glimmer of sun once or twice, but not enough to warm things up. I measured 2.5 inches of new snow this morning and we've had a few flurries during the day, but not much accumulation.  Looking ahead into next week the forecast looks like more of the same - only colder. This is good - we can perhaps look forward to maybe a "January thaw" getting back into the 20s later this month and then improved temperatures in February!

Be warm and safe.