Motorists traveling from Rapidan to Locust Dale will notice the new USPS sign on the east side of the general store building that sits on the corner of U.S. 15 and Rt. 614.
The Locust Dale Post Office will soon be moving out of the trailer it has inhabited for 50 years, back to its original home. The building and land where the Locust Dale Post Office sits is part of Locust Hill, a historic home and farm complex that is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.
Since 1825, the small post office has been the center of the community. The Locust Dale Post Office has operated out of the Locust Hill property since 1878 when members of the Willis family built the structure to use as a general store and post office. According to historical records the original location was nearby in another small structure used as a store. The post office has been in the trailer onsite since the early 1970s when the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) required all facilities owned or leased by the federal government to be fully accessible to handicapped individuals.
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Locust Hill owners Mike and Betty Long have recently restored the structure with the intention of moving the post office back to the general store building.
“We started restoring the general store but wanted to make sure the post office would continue to stay,” said Mike Long. “The history of the building and circumstances that led to the post office being in the store and then in a trailer for 50 years and now almost back in the store is actually pretty interesting and a humorous journey.”
Betty Long said the relationship between her family and the Locust Dale Post Office is old and complicated.
“My ancestors built the general store in the late 1800s and the post office has been on the property for ages,” she said. “The history got complicated about 50 years ago when my uncle William Burwell owned the store. After he was required to clean up the old gas tanks on the site he was unwilling to pay for the building modifications required to comply with the ABA. He and the post office came to a standoff and USPS moved the trailer in and it’s been here ever since.”
