Post Office, Monhegan, 1921

Contributed by Penobscot Marine Museum

Description

Traditionally Monhegan postmasters performed their duties out of their own home. However, not long after Elva Brackett (later Nicholson) became the island's postmaster, the post office moved to a designated building.

Elva began her job in 1919, when she was 24 years old and living with her parents. Her first post office was in the fish house north of the wharf that was referred to as "the Barnacle". Her father, Cass Brackett, bought land and built the Carina House for use as a store and post office by his daughter, Elva. The post office operated in this building from 1921 to 1929. Elva served as Monhegan postmaster until 1963.

Sidney Baldwin, a writer from Illinois, purchased the Carina in 1930 as a home for her gardener, Ira Achorn. This arrangement lasted until 1957, when Baldwin sold the Carina and her neighboring home back to Elva Brackett.

The building was a rental house for several years until the 1960s, when textile artist Robert Semple opened his studio and yarn shop and taught classes in librapoint there. Later the downstairs housed a general store, and the upstairs was an apartment and studio for the Monhegan Artist Residency fellow.

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About This Item

  • Title: Post Office, Monhegan, 1921
  • Creator: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co.
  • Creation Date: circa 1921
  • Subject Date: circa 1921
  • Location: Monhegan, Lincoln County, ME
  • Media: Glass Plate Negative
  • Dimensions: 12.7 cm x 17.8 cm
  • Local Code: LB2007.1.101580
  • Collection: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co.
  • Object Type: Image

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For more information about this item, contact:

Penobscot Marine Museum
PO Box 498, 5 Church Street, Searsport, ME 04974
(207) 548-2529
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This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.

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