This post is broken into several parts:
- What’s the Great Post Office (GPO) Search
- GPO #2 – Ride from Fulton to Mannsville, NY searching for 12 Post Offices
- GPS #17 – Ramsey’s Pizzeria, Adam’s Center, NY
- Featured Post Office
What′s the Great Post Office (GPO) Search
So, what’s GPO? It’s the Great Post Office Search I’ve been riding or hiking to Post Offices to take a picture in honor of my father since 2016. My Dad (Grandpa Tony for my kid’s sake) was a USPS letter carrier for 40+ years. Immediately after, WWII, my father worked at an electric motor factory as a machinist mechanic.
But, my Grandpa Raffaele (aka Ralph, aka Rocco, aka Ruocco, darn Ellis Island!) convinced him that it was not healthy to work in a factory. Grandpa Rocco spent time at a sanatorium due to tuberculosis and feared a similar fate for his son, my father. Thus, my Dad found himself “walking the streets like a bum,” as he would say!
I spent a lot of mornings before school in his PO branch in “The Harbor”. The Harbor neighborhoods are a part of my home town adjacent to the coal and iron ore docks along Lake Erie. Looking back, it’s hard to call The Harbor picturesque then, but it was home!
The Harbor is bisected from Swede Town by the railroad that carried the coal and iron ore (and highly likely, much white powder contraband) to Youngstown and Pittsburgh. The coal and ore originated in the upper peninsula of Michigan (see OSU video) and Minnesota and brought to The Harbor via “Lake Boats” (shallower hulls and smaller that ocean ships).
My Dad worked a second job on the docks for much of my life to help pay for high school, and then college, tuition (and my mom’s Carlisle’s habit).
The Harbor Branch PO was located less than a block from Mother of Sorrows, so frequently, we’d catch a ride, especially in winter, with Dad and hang out inside the PO waiting to walk the final block to school.
Once inside, it was a different world. Dad would walk in and immediately announce, “Gentlemen!” In reply would be a choruses of, “TV!” or “Hey T!”
Today, I’m certain regulations wouldn’t allow me in their workplace, but it was a slice of the real world that the nuns and priests were supposedly preparing me.
Dad’s PO was full of characters. I can remember many because I’d also encounter most of those men at the bowling alley. At the PO, most were quiet, but after a few Genny Creams and a turkey (3 strikes a in a row), a bellow would reverberate over the pin clatter of “Aheeeee”. Bearcat (the father of HS classmates and teammates) would be the primary perpetrator. He was a great character and fabulous bowler, and a terrific man!
Dad was an incredible bowler. He spent the years after the war and before marriage and kids traveling the Great Lakes to tournaments.
Dad was not a storyteller. I’m not sure if he didn’t want us to know, or simply repressed, about growing up during the Depression while his father was away in a sanatorium. Or maybe, he was too grounded in the present with work and family to allow it to cross his mind.
But, one of Dad’s favorite stories was when he bowled a tournament in Rochester in the mid-50s. The lanes were in the basement of the War Memorial Arena along the Genesee River. Who knew? There were bowling alleys EVERYWHERE in Rochester when I moved here including the basement of our rec center at Kodak!
He and his partner were near the tournament lead and in a match against the leaders. Dad bowled 250 or so (“which was something in those days”), but Carl C., dad’s partner, didn’t bowl too well, and they fell out of the prize money. Dad didn’t bowl for the money, but if he won, it would mean a rarity, a steak dinner!
Carl was so distraught about his poor showing, that he walked onto the Court Street bridge behind the arena and over the Genesee. Dad thought Carl was contemplating a jump! Instead, with a big heave, he chucked his bag, ball, and shoes into the river!
Incredibly, a few weeks later, Carl received a package in the mail from Rochester. It was his bag, ball, and shoes!
Dad bowled one more time in Rochester in the 80’s. His pride was palpable as he introduced me to his teammates! I tried to bowl but lacked the patience to develop the technical skill required to get to Dad’s level; sounds just like my impatience to learn the art of swimming!
Nearly all of those characters, both PO and bowling, reached out to me for the State HS Championship and also Mom’s and Dad’s funerals.
Given that backdrop, it’s hard for me not to pay tribute to my Dad and those men in some way. Thus, the Great Post Office (GPO) Search. A GPO is when I ride 50 – 100 miles and find as many Post Offices as possible, that I’ve not yet photographed and “get ’em” (what I say to myself after taking the snap)!
Click here to go to the GPO (Great Post Office) Search Page
GPO #2 – Ride from Fulton to Mannsville, NY searching for 12 Post Offices (Friday, August 6)
GPO #2 (I’ve not written GPO #1 yet!) was a ride from Fulton, NY on the Lake Ontario plain ending up at the base of the Tug Hill Plateau in Mannsville, NY. The distance was 64.5 miles (Strava link). This was a shorter ride since I was racing a virtual gravel race the following morning in the Winona State Forest.
Fulton Post Office – Grade = B (maybe A!) – The ride started at the Fulton, NY post office. what a wonderful way to start! It is a beautiful limestone structure with majestic columns along the front. The toppers were copper Post Office lettering and circular copper inlays running along the top. The copper had great verde patina.
It was built in 1913 and added to the National Historic Registry. Per Wikipedia there was a great Mural on the inside, but I didn’t see it. It’s possible that the mural has been covered because the topic could be considered racist by today’s standards. Also the inside featured beautifully sculpted marble and woodwork throughout.
Finally, there are 2 other buildings on the National Historic Registry on the same block!
After leaving Fulton, the next 30 miles were north along the east shore of Lake Ontario. This brought 4 more post offices in Minetto, Lycoming, New Haven, and Mexico (NY). All are rated as C since none are special. The terrain in this section was rolling but had no big hills.
What was interesting, to get to the Minetto PO, I needed to cross the Oswego River and got a cool shot of a very old river lock. I’d not seen a lock on a river before; not sure if there are falls near this necessitating the lock.
10 miles later, at mile 40, I entered Pulaski, NY. I’ve been here many times. In the fall, the town is crazy with people fishing for salmon as they spawn upriver across the Rapids in the picture.
Near the Rapids was the Pulaski PO. It was cool, but still a C rating.
From Pulaski, I turned even further east and inland. The terrain and environment gets very interesting! This eastbound route crossed over I-81 and was a gradual hill climb from about 250′ elevation to 600+’ over about 8 miles. And as I climbed, the trees turned from primarily deciduous to coniferous. I also collected a picture of the Richland PO (C Rating) and made it up to the base of the Tug Hill Plateau.
The Tug Hill Plateau is another, higher plain at 1300′ – 2000′ elevation and at the base of the Adirondack Mountains. This plain is at a higher elevation than the Lake Ontario plain, but lower than the Adirondacks. It also sits directly east of Lake Ontario. This unique geography along with the moist west winds off Lake Ontario in winter cause massive winter snow (300-400+ inches). The moist lake wind rises along the Plateau and hits the Adirondacks and forms near consistent snow clouds over the plateau.
There is groomed XC skiing at both a privately run business and within Winona State Forest by volunteers. It’s pretty incredible there. In addition to the Winona State Forest, there is the Tug Hill State Forest. Both forests are the location of the gravel bicycle race that I rode on the following day.
Once up on the Plateau during the ride, I was on to the town of Lacona and it’s 1950s design PO (C Rating).
From here, I turned west again and back down Tug Hill toward the eastern shore of Lake Ontario to pick up the Sandy Creek PO. This PO was kind of cool, since it was attached to a laundromat!
From here, the route turned north to the Ellisburgh PO. This 5 mile section was very hilly, and close to the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. The winds were strong and the hills were frequent; the toughest part of the ride. For the first 50 miles, I’d ridden ~1500′ of climbing, this 5 mile section added another 500′!
The Ellisburgh PO is cool, multicolor brick, but it’s exterior needs some paint and landscape maintenance causing it to be a C Rating, though it had the potential to be a B.
Once past Ellisburgh, it was another right turn east and inland and, once again, up Tug Hill for the final 9 miles! Luckily, I felt great!
This final section included the Pierrepont PO, which is attached to an ice cream shop. Despite that, it’s a C!
The final PO was in Mannsville, NY. I’d wanted Mannsville to be nice because I have great memories of racing XC ski here with my kids, but it was the only D of the ride. It was just run down and ugly.
I didn’t want to end on a downer, so we decided to find pizza!
GPS #17 – Ramsey’s Pizzeria, Adam’s Center, NY
On our way to our overnight camping spot, we stopped at Ramsey’s Pizzeria. Despite the fact that Ramsey’s isn’t an Italian name (am I becoming a pizza nazi (think Soup Nazi, but for pizza) and want only “Italian named” pizzerias?), and has no real website with no “About Us” section, we went based upon high Google ratings.
TIP – don’t go based upon Google ratings when choosing pizza! Go to a better source. This blog, maybe?
Ramsey’s is in Adams Center, NY. They don’t do slices 😦 so we were forced to order a small full pizza (12″). It was $13 for 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 cheese, a decent value.
The Ambiance – NONE. Just a front door to a kitchen with a counter! They could have at least made the pizza box interesting!
The Crust – The crust was inconsistent in thickness across the Pizza; parts were very thin and others were thick. This caused the pizza to be a little under cooked and doughy in the thicker part. There was a bit of crunch, but the cornicione was a little hard.
The Cheese – Lots of moozedell, maybe too much, causing the pizza to be too greasy. No taste of parmigian.
The Sauce – not much sauce taste except in the center where the crust was thin. The sauce taste was likely hidden by the over abundance of cheese.
Rating = MEH (MEH is not good!).
Would I go back – hmm, if you really want pizza, there are not too many choices around here.
The evening was saved by our overnight camping spot at the Tug Hill Vineyards!
Featured Post Office
As mentioned above, I’ve been on my GPO (Great Post Office Search) for 5 years and have collected approximately 200 PO’s (I’m still cataloging them on this site) from NY to FL and in between including Italy.
Click here to go to the GPO (Great Post Office) Search Page
Instead of doing an blog post on those past, I will feature some of my favorites from time to time.
Currently (as of August 8), I have two PO’s that I consider A+ (but I don’t give plus/minus ratings). They are:
- Old Gainesville, FL PO which is now a theater
- Newark, NY PO
Gainesville, FL PO
The original Gainesville, FL PO is no longer a PO 😦 and is now the Hippodrome Theatre! It was built in 1911 and features 6 beautiful columns.
Per the Historic Preservation of Alachua County, the PO was “Designed as a focal point and physical terminus of First Street, this building stands as one of the finest examples of the Beaux Arts classical style in Florida. Elegantly trimmed with carved limestone, its north facade is dominated by a Monumental portico with six Corinthian columns. The richly plastered interior, bronze entry doors and terrazzo floors are also noteworthy. Having served as the Post Office until 1964.”
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
I’ll show the Newark, NY PO in the next blog post!
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