Five islands make up the town of Cranberry Isles. They are Bear Island, Sutton, Great Cranberry, Little Cranberry (home of Islesford), and Baker Island. Accessible only by the mail boat / ferry service, the mailboat stops year-round (weather permitting!) at Great Cranberry and Islesford. The main industries on these islands are lobster fishing, boatbuilding, repair and maintenance.
The postoffice in Isleford was threatened with closure some years ago because of lack of business. But since the islands didn't want to lose their last post office, the postmistress, Joy, decided to try to drum up business in a non-traditional way.
The Islesford post office now is one of the biggest suppliers of mail-order stamps. First they encouraged summer visitors to buy their stamps by mail the rest of the year from this little post office. Since then, they have been mentioned in newspaper articles, which has just helped to grow their list of clients. Since I read about them in the Norwalk Hour some years ago, I have gotten all my stamps by mail.
With every order, Joy encloses a monthly, handwritten letter, telling her customers all about current life on the island.
If you want to help support this tiny post office, write to:
Postmaster
PO Box 9998
Islesford ME 04646-9998
Joy will be happy to send you and order form and one of her newsy letters! Feel free to make special requests for stamp designs. She'll always do her best!