On some private roads, all the mailboxes are the same. On some roads, they’re not.
But at least they’re always in order.
Well, almost always. The ones on High Gate Road, off Maple Avenue South, are different sizes — and very random.
Photographer Chris Gramm has 2 questions:
What’s up with that gap between #18 and #35?
And does the mail carrier wish they were in order?
(Photo/Chris Grimm)
Westport mailboxes have always been eclectic.
They’re big and small, artistic and generic. Some stand upright; others are packed in sturdy concrete.
In a variety of fonts, they identify addresses: the full road, or just the number.
Saugatuck Shores (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
What they don’t show is who lives there.
No names. That may be why FedEx, Amazon and Uber Eats manage to screw up so many orders.
It wasn’t always like that.
I’m not sure when the practice of putting names on mailboxes (and lawns, and next to the front door) ended. (I can guess why: security and privacy.)
But that’s part of Westport life that disappeared a while ago, right underneath our eyes, without anyone noticing.
It’s not the only one.
Who remembers the cannonballs embedded in the grass near the Compo Beach cannons, or the anchor across from Ned Dimes Marina?
For newer residents, the palm tree by the kayak launch is just a f(r)ond memory.
(Photo/Jaime Bairaktaris)
“Station cars” were once the financially prudent, low-key way dads got to the train station. Today’s parking lot is a Range Rover convention.
The Westport News is gone, pretty much. It still publishes online, and some folks get it in their mail or on their driveway (whether they want it or not).
But the local newspaper — the one whose crusading saved us from a nuclear plant on Cockenoe Island, and which covered local meetings, sports, education, arts, police and much more with actual journalists — is now as irrelevant as an AAA road map.
And you can’t buy a copy anywhere in town, even if you wanted one.
Also gone:
Leaf-burning in the fall. Apparently it releases toxic particles that can cause severe lung damage. That seems serious. But losing the quintessential smell of autumn — which no one under 40 remembers — is serious too.
Autumn ritual, back in the day.
Teachers and coaches once gave kids rides home. Today, that’s a fire-able offense.
Speaking of fires: A fire horn sounded every Saturday at noon, and summoned volunteers whenever there was a blaze. If you knew the code, you could head over and see the blaze yourself. And the code could be found …
… in phone books. They disappeared around the time of rotary phones. Along with …
… knowing your friends’ phone numbers. Kids today don’t even know their parents’ numbers. Which is okay, because …
… most tweens and teens (and 20somethings) refuse to talk on the phone. Or to anyone face to face, for that matter. They’ll text someone sitting right next to them. I wish I were kidding, but I’m not.
(Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)
Gone too:
24/7/365 hours of operation at the diner. Isn’t that actually the definition of a diner?
The large cone on top of Carvel.
And the sign on Easton Road, noting the distance to Upper Stepney. Crucial information for everyone in the Coleytown area, heading up there.
Though in Upper Stepney, as in Westport, no one puts their name on their mailbox anymore.
(What else vanished from Westport, without any noticing? Click “Comments” below.)
(Longtime residents and newcomers agree: “06880” has its pulse on the town. But we rely on reader support to do it. Please click here, to make a tax-deductible contribution.
Posted in Beach, Looking back, Westport life
Tagged Carvel, mailboxes, railroad station, Westport Fire Department, Westport News
Perhaps the plan was to prevent mailboxes from destruction by bored teenagers. Or snowplows.
Maybe a stone mason had time on his hands.
Whatever the reason, 6 mailboxes are encased sturdily — very sturdily — in a structure where Roosevelt Road meets Compo Beach Road, across from Ned Dimes Marina. (Click here to see.)
Several readers knew that the mailboxes — no longer used; every homeowner now has a private one at their driveway — were the subject of last week’s Photo Challenge.
Congratulations to Patricia McMahon, Matt Murray, Michael Szeto, Andrew Colabella, Beth Berkowitz, Micil Ryan, Michael Calise and Pete Powell. Your years of watching closely as you walk, jog, bike by the beach (or wait patiently in your car in the fireworks line) has paid off well.
We go indoors for this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Seth Schachter)
Our Question Box is full.
That doesn’t mean I have all the answers.
But I’m sure our readers — in their collective wisdom — do.
Please chime in with any additional information. Click “Comments” below.
And, as always: If you have a question for our box, email 06880blog@gmail.com.
==================================================
Who isi responsible for the upkeep and oversight of electric vehicle chargers on Westport town property?
There are 4 in the railroad station parking lot next to Donut Crazy. Two of them have not worked for months. No one seems to be doing anything about it.
Is the town paying a company to provide these chargers? Are we receiving subsidies for having chargers? (Anonymous)
The Police Department oversees railroad parking, so I asked Police Chief Foti Koskinas.
He said the town owns the charges. The first generation — installed in 2012 — required less voltage than the current ones. So now, there’s enough voltage only for 2 chargers.
They’re aware of the situation. Within a few weeks, all 4 will be operational.
The town gives the power away for free, at the train station and at all other charging stations on municipal property.
However, Foti says, the Selectwoman’s office, under the direction of operations director Tom Kiely, is looking at a new policy under which users would pay a fee.
An electric charging station at the Saugatuck train station. (Photo by Paul Schott/Westport News)
======================================================
Where does the compost from the dump collection bins go? And is the ripe compost available for customer? (Chuck Hill)
I went to Public Works director Pete Ratkiewich for this one. He says: “Some goo to Southington to an aerobic digester. Some go to composting farms in Danbury and the New Milford area.
There is no compost available for customers.
=================================================
How did Imperial Avenue get its unlikely name? (Dick Seclow)
A great question — and one I’ve often wondered about.
Westport historians: Please let us know. And please include whether you’re passing along a fact, local lore, or something in between.
Imperial Avenue, in the fall. (Photo/Carmine Picarello)
=======================================================
When hanging out at Compo Beach, exactly what Long Island town are we looking at across Long Island Sound? (Kevin McCaul)
It’s between Northport and Stony Brook, according to this map.
But I don’t know exactly. Nor do I know what those very visible large stacks are.
Long Islanders: Feel free to weigh in!
==================================================
Mr. Mailbox charges $800 to put in a new post and box. Can you completely ditch a mailbox and just use a PO Box? Is there a law that every house needs to have a street mailbox?
As best as I can determine, there is no law regarding mailboxes. It seems you can have a mail slot in your front door, so long as you tell the post office.
Without either option, the US Postal Service will mark your first-class mail “Undeliverable” and return it to the sender. Other mail will be discarded.
You can rent a PO Box at the Post Office — or through a private service, like the UPS Store.
You can also have your mail addressed to “General Delivery,” with a specific Post Office and ZIP Code. But you’d have to wait in line there to pick up your mail.
Colorful Compo Road North mailboxes. (Photo/Mark Mathias)
=================================================
I was raised in a Marine family, and was taught to address any adults as “sir” or “ma’am.” My brother was actually told to stop calling his teacher “sir,” because he thought he was being mocked.
Today, young kids and teenagers seem to think it is okay to call adults by their first name. What do Westporters think? (Jo Ann Miller)
I have no idea, ma’am. Readers: Please click “Comments” below.
Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas H. Miller — Jo Ann’s father — in 1960.
(The Question Box is one more service of “06880.” Our question is: “Can you help support what we do?” Please click here — and thank you!)
Posted in Beach, Environment, Question Box, Transportation
Tagged Compo Beach, compost, electric vehicle charging station, Imperial Avenue, Long Island, mailboxes
Colors on North Compo (Photo/Mark Mathias)
Comments Off on Pic Of The Day #1554
Posted in Pic of the Day, Sports
Tagged Little League field, mailboxes, North Compo Road
Saugatuck Shores mailboxes (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
Earlier this week, an “06880” reader signing herself only “Mrs. Veteran” wrote:
This morning we woke up to our mailbox smashed down. It’s an age-old vandalism/prank of high school kids. This time an extremely large pumpkin took it down.
This is a continuing problem. Our neighbors dealt with it for weeks on end a few years ago. They took steps to make sure they weren’t targeted again, by putting metal poles on either side of their mailboxes. In the dark they were not visible, so the kids got a nasty surprise when they tried to take out the mailboxes with baseball bats.
My husband’s mellow attitude is “kids are kids, and this sucks.”
However, I will mention that he is a veteran who served over a decade in the U.S. Army. His Middle East tours lasted up to 14 months at a time.
I think kids in this town need a reality check sometimes, as they drive their BMWs to school or speed down neighborhood streets not considering the lives they could take (children and pets). And I know that not all Westport kids drive BMWs.
The reality check comes when they realize the mailbox they took out belongs to a veteran, a man who served his country to give them the very freedom to throw a pumpkin and damage our property. At this very moment that veteran and his young child are in the garage fixing our mailbox. That’s the same whose entire first year of life he missed — crawling, walking, talking, laughing, smiling, etc. — to fight on foreign soil for their freedom.
I won’t have any way of knowing if these kids read “06880,” but I would appreciate some sort of acknowledgement, even if it’s on behalf of others who had their mailboxes taken down, others who are not comfortable stating their feelings, and others who may just read this and say, “I wonder what my kid was doing last night.”
Click here to help support “06880” via credit card or PayPal. Any amount is welcome, appreciated — and tax-deductible! Reader contributions keep this blog going. (Alternate methods: Please send a check to “06880”: PO Box 744, Westport, CT 06881. Or use Venmo: @blog06880. Or Zelle: dwoog@optonline.net. Thanks!)