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Post offices reflect county's growth
Jackson County's post offices saw a lot of changes on Monday as three veteran postmasters hung up their cancellation stamps and headed for retirement.
The trio – JoAnne Parris of Balsam, Pauline Beck of Whittier and Linda Lane of Cashiers – have been sorting mail in this county for a total of 77 years, and they all commented on the growth they've seen during the time they've been postmasters.
Parris, who has worked at the Balsam Post Office for 28 years and served as postmaster for the past 25, said Balsam had 100 boxes when she was appointed in 1979 but has almost five times that many – 480 – now.
Whittier's boxes have more than tripled, rising from 386 to 1,275 during the 17 years Beck has been at the helm. Cashiers has seen similar growth, Lane said, with its post office box total now standing at 2,200, almost three times the 783 boxes that were there when she arrived 21 years ago.
Parris said she started her career at Balsam in 1976 when she applied for a part-time job there. Three years later she was appointed postmaster.
"It's hard to leave," she said last week. "I'll miss my customers."
Through all the changes and growth Balsam has experienced through the years, including a new post office building in 1980, Parris said more has stayed the same than has changed.
"Everybody's been wonderful – local families, summer people – it's mostly families that have been coming here for years," she said.
Parris, who will be replaced by Vera Wade of Waynesville, is Balsam's 19th postmaster in the office's 121-year history. Chartered in 1873, William Crawford was the postmaster until the post office was discontinued six months later. The post office was reopened in July 1885 and has operated continuously ever since.
Like Parris, Beck has spent her 28-year postal career entirely in Jackson County, though not at the same post office.
She started out in Dillsboro in 1977, transferred to Sylva in 1980 and moved to Whittier as postmaster in 1988.
Beck remembered the changes technology has brought to mail delivery during her years as a carrier and postmaster.
"When I started, all the mail was sorted by hand," she said. "Now, no hand touches it until delivery – everything is automated. Mail comes to Whittier already sorted."
Beck, like Parris and Lane, is taking advantage of a special voluntary early retirement package postal officials offered qualifying postmasters.
The seventh postmaster at Whittier since 1935, Beck will be replaced by current Cullowhee Postmaster Ron Story.
Prior to 1935, the post office was located in Swain County, according to "The History of Jackson County." Chartered in 1874 as the Junaluska Post Office, the office ceased operations between 1881 and 1885. The legendary Will Thomas was postmaster there from 1880-81.
Lane, who arrived in Cashiers from Montreat in 1984, said she was retiring the same year as the postmaster – Katherine Davis – who trained her in Montreat.
"I learned a lot from her," Lane said.
Lane began her Cashiers tenure in a three-year-old building and oversaw another move in 1991.
"So far this one has lasted for 14 years, and we're not out of space," she said.
What stands out in her mind is the way the Cashiers community has changed during the past 21 years as the number of people has increased.
"It's changed the feeling of the community," she said last week. "It's more of a resort now than a small town. It's sort of sad to see the passing of an era."
Lane is the 27th postmaster at Cashiers, the county's second-oldest post office. (Quallatown, established in 1834, is the oldest.) Chartered in 1839 as the Cashiers Valley Post Office, the name was shortened to Cashiers in 1881. Between 1839 and the present, a number of smaller post offices closed and merged with Cashiers, including Coalside, Feldspar, Georgetown, Hidden Mountain, Heady Mountain, Kilgo (originally Kilgore), Ocala and Talpha.
Sapphire Postmaster Donna Miller will transfer to Cashiers to become the town's 28th postmaster.
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