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Early Years
When it began in 1876, the post office at Sinai (pronounced with three syllables, “sigh-knee-eye”,) was originally a simple window on one side of the Baxter family log cabin, and it was one of 11 rural post offices networked across Anderson County, serving small villages like it.
By the 1890s, a small, freestanding post office building was erected across from the Shiloh Christian Church on (what is now) Highway 53. The village (and the post office)
In 1950, the post office building across from the church was deconstructed and carried uphill about a quarter mile to its current location on the property of the postmistress, Ruth Hoskins, whose home and garage had been constructed in 1948 & 1949. New front steps were poured (below).
Presumably, the tongue-and-groove flooring and bead board inside, as well as the aluminum siding outside, were installed around the same time as the new steps. Demolition around the doors and windows has revealed previous layers of wood flooring, as well as beneath the siding.
Closure
Throuhgout the early 20th century, free rural mail delivery became common, causing the closure of dozens of rural post offices like these. Anderson County was no exception, witnessing closures of post offices at Hutch, Stinnett, Leathers’ Store, and Cora. With each of those closures, the remaining ledgers and materials was sent to the P.O. at Sinai for safekeeping.
In the 1970s, the post office at Sinai, Kentucky was decomissioned and the building closed for service. The village of Sinai dissolved shortly thereafter. (The iconic photo of the post office building on our home page and socials is taken from a local newspaper article on the P.O.’s closure).
It’s unclear when and how, but at some point the P.O. was absorbed into the property currently at 1079 Willisburg Road, a small farm created in 1948. The building has been in private use since then.
Resdiscovery
In 2019, when the property changed hands, the post office revealed a treasure. Hidden inside the eaves of the roof, dozens of decrepit cardboard boxes contained a cache of old documents, letters, posters, and mail. Presumably, these items have been untouched since the late 1970s. (To give a sense of the magnitude of this discovery–just the paper artifacts require more than eight large watertight totes to store, safely).
In addition to the paper artifacts, the P.O. also includes a beautiful but dilapdiated mid-century kerosene heater (below, left), cardboard candy bar displays, and other nostalgic remnants of bygone eras.
Early demo in the summer of 2024 revealed antique bead board in good condition beneath the faux wood paneling (above, right). The paneling has now been entirely stripped away.
Our goal is to restore this space in a way that pays homage to the vital role it played in this community in the past, and empowers the community to share it in new ways.
We love hearing stories about the P.O. ! Do you remember coming here with Mom or Pawpaw as a kid? Did a relative work as a carrier along one of these rural routes? Or maybe you rocked out in this building with a friend’s band in the 80s? Whatever it is, we want to know about your experience with the Sinai post office.
Please reach out! We may have documents that are part of your story, too.
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