By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
Learning about your own hometown and how the post office works was an exciting lesson for the morning kindergarteners of Valley of Enchantment Elementary School on Friday, Feb. 16 when they walked to the Valley of Enchantment post office, where they were welcomed by the Crestline postal workers.
The students were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the facilities and were allowed to become postal workers for a while.
The students, accompanied by teachers, parents and adult volunteers, walked the three short blocks to the post office on Waters Drive, where they were met by the workers of the Crestline post office. They were taught everything necessary to make the post office work efficiently.
They were shown where the various parts of the address of a letter go and told what needs to be included. Then they were given an opportunity to hand-cancel a letter with the cancellation postmark for the Cedarpines Park post office; then they walked outside the building and put their letters into the mailbox. Each student was given a tour behind the post office boxes area where they each got to place a piece of mail into a postal box from the backside, just like a real post office worker.
Then, for fun, they got to have their picture taken by their teachers as a superhero of their choice, such as an astronaut, a superwoman, an action figure or a rocket ship. This activity produced really big smiles on the children’s faces.
Inside the post office, there were display boards about the history of the post office in Crestline, created by the Rim of the World Historical Society. This area got the first post office for the western end of the mountains in 1907, when a post office was opened at the top of the mountain inside the Skyland Inn. Samuel Dillin moved the post office in 1919 to the center of the Crestline business district where Crest Forest Drive crosses Highway 138 and changed the post office’s name from Skyland Heights to Crestline.
The post office was usually located in the business of the postmaster until 1963, when a building was built exclusively for the post office at the corner of Knapp’s Cutoff and Lake Drive, with 1,500 post boxes. As the town grew larger, more post office boxes were needed so, in 1986, the post office relocated to its current location on Lake Drive with 4,900 boxes.
Since then, the Crestline post office has annexed the Cedarpines Park post office, although CPP has retained its ZIP Code and celebrated its ZIP Code Day on 9-23-22. The post office annex in Valley of Enchantment offers additional post office box space. The post offices in the mountain communities actually service more post office box deliveries than most Southern California cities of much greater size.
Each child was given a post office coloring and activity book and a packet of crayons. They were told about a contest where, if they color and return the front page of the coloring book to their teacher, it will be put up on display in the post office, and the best one will win a small mailbox with a stuffed animal inside. Be sure to look for that colorful display in the coming weeks at the main Crestline post office on Lake Drive.
Students hand-canceling a letter during their field trip to the VOE post office.
The postal workers hope the children had a great time and learned a little bit about how the mail is handled at the post office. Since the kids who are now in third grade and learning about their hometown didn’t get the opportunity to visit the post office because of the COVID-related school closures a couple of years ago, the postal workers hope those teachers will also schedule a field trip to the post office this year for them.
One little girl with a big smile said, “I really had fun today, I got to be Superwoman.” A boy said, “I always wondered what was on the other side of my mom’s post office box and how the mail got inside of it.” One of the mothers said, “I’m glad they rescheduled it from the snow day last week when the field trip was canceled. This was so worth it.”
The postmaster said, “I am glad we got the opportunity to show the children how the post office works and the many parts there are to mailing a letter. Plus, my workers were excited to be able to share this with the kids. It was a great day all around.”
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