TYRRELL COUNTY
You’ve Got Mail
The Changing Face of
POSTAL DELIVERY STORY & PHOTOS BY SARAH HODGES STALL
P
ostal service across the east has seen
and administration of a postal system in the
property, 389 are listed as land and 205 as
great change over the centuries.
colonies.
water, which must have added challenges to
As far back as the late 1500s, it
By 1730, Deputy Postmaster General
is believed the first English colonists wrote
Alexander Spotswood had stretched delivery
There are two differing dates for the first
letters to their loved ones back in England.
through North Carolina to Charles Towne, now
post office in the county. Some records show
Reportedly, letters were transported across
known as Charleston, South Carolina.
Columbia opened for business March 25, 1811
the Atlantic – for a small fee – by various ship’s captains. Some credit this process as being the birth of postal operations in American and North Carolina. A
The four post offices operating in North
with James B. White serving as postmaster.
Carolina by 1789 were in Edenton, New Bern,
Other records showed the opening date as
Washington and Wilmington. By 1851, there
Oct. 26, 1819 with Baldwin W. Halsey running
were 785.
the office.
Records exist showing there have been 21 act
of
British
Columbia is the sole remaining
Parliament
post offices across the 594 square miles of
post office location in the
specifically provided for the development
Tyrrell County. Of the square miles of county
county still in operation today.
42
1710
the early days of mail delivery.
