Ocean View Post Office

The first free-standing Ocean View Post Office was built in 1889, when Ocean View became incorporated as a town and qualified for its own post office. The post office provided income for Postmistress Annie West Betts after her husband drowned in a shipwreck, and she supplemented that income by operating a millinery shop in the rear. Annie was the daughter of the politically connected George West, who owned the blue Tunnell-West house next door. As required at each U.S. Post Office, Annie raised the U.S. Flag after sorting each day's incoming mail, and townspeople used the slot under the flag to insert letters when the post office was closed.

Ocean View, Delaware · United States