From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
P. O. Walpole Me. 32.
Post Office, Walpole, ME pre 1919 From 1911 until 1919 the post office in Walpole was in this little building in Clarks Cove at the sharp bend on Clarks Cove Road. The man in the photo may well be Almon P. Hatch, the postmaster for 8 years. He was a teacher and a member of the school committee for several years as well as the local undertaker. Perhaps he had his business in the building and stored coffins behind the wide side door. The first post office for all of Bristol opened in Walpole in 1800. It was at Thomas McClure's trading post on the Damariscotta River, opposite the Walpole Meeting House. The post office moved from location to location between Walpole and Clarks Cove. For a time Clarks Cove, then called West Bristol, had a separate post office. The post office was in cousins Albert and Henry Goudy's store at the upper end of Clarks Cove Road near today's golf course. In 1911, as Henry was nearing 70, he closed the store, requiring the post office to be relocated and a new postmaster named. Cathy Stockwell, South Bristol Historical Society
