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By LISAG. CURRIE
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Viewtown Post Office is having a birthday.
The tiny office, always located in Viewtown Store on Route 643 in Viewtown, is 100 years old.
According to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Viewtown Post Office was established on April 3, 1890 by request of Olive Postmaster Charles Hawkins. The Olive Post Office, now defunt, was located on Route 626 near Culpeper.
One hundred years later, Viewtown’s office is still located in the same building, serving many of the same families.
Though little change has come to the post office over the years, the first change came with the name, 100 years ago.
Viewtown Post Office was nearly called Forest Hill. The document requesting post office operation shows Forest Hill — later changed to Viewtown in order to fill the requirement of one word post office names. The position of Postmaster was first served by William Spellman.
Mr. Spellman’s duties were to provide mail to 100 families, a population of 500.
And after 100 years of service to those families — grown only to 125 in a century — the post office has been operated by only three families. William Spellman was the first postmaster, followed by his son, Henry and later, Moffet, who managed the business until 1918 when it passed — the store, property, and house — toJ.J. Barron.
Until 1885, the Barron family ran the store, the post office and lived in the house to right of the store.
Upon postmaster Margaret Barron’s retirement in 1985, The Viewtown Post Office became a separate business from the mercantile business located in the same building.
In past days, post office and store were operated by one clerk. When the mail was delivered from Culpeper, the store would close and mail would be sorted to the designated addresses.
Time changes even the mail. Today, the United States Postal Service rents the space for the Viewtown Post Office from the Viewtown Store’s owners, Chris and Verna Schmitt. Post office and store are separate businesses.
In 1985, Amissville’s Mary Priest was named postmaster to the new business, bringing a new name, a new generation and a new beginning to the office.
The tiny post office, presently snuggled into the left-hand comer of the store, behind the door, has never left the store though it has moved in the last 100 years.
Viewtown Post Office or store patrons of 25 to 30 years past may remember the day when the post office sat high on a platform in the rear of the store, extending from one side to the other with steps on either end.
Previous store owner and Postmaster Margaret Barron remembers those days — and days before when patrons came on horseback and mail was brought only half-way from Cul
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