Small town charm oozes from every
pore in Beaufort, N.C., and historic preservation is a virtue within this
community.
The late William J. Murtagh, who was
the first keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, is credited with
having once said: “Preservation engages the past in a conversation with the
present over a mutual concern for the future.”
One focal point for discourse on
public art in Beaufort is Town Hall. The building enjoyed a glamourous first
life as the village post office. In the lobby are four murals that were hung in
1940. The paintings were funded through a massive public art project introduced
by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.
It was one of the “New Deal” economic
stimulus plans to help create work for artists during the Great Depression…and
beautify public buildings, chiefly post offices.
Beaufort
got a modern, new postal facility on the northern edge of town in 2010.
Townspeople fretted over what would become of the charming, old post office…and
its famed murals, painted by Russian-born artist Simka Simkhovitch.
The
town government stepped up, in need for more office space itself. A deal was
struck. The town agreed to buy the building in 2011, and the murals would
remain intact.
One
of Simkhovitch’s murals memorializes the giant Cape Lookout Lighthouse that
dates back to 1859. Its signal was visible 18 miles out to sea as the light
revolved. The lighthouse is, far and away, the most iconic emblem that speaks
to Carteret County’s maritime heritage and culture.
The
connectivity grew even stronger when Beaufort officials forged a partnership
with the National Park Service to share space at town hall, thereby creating Cape
Lookout National Seashore’s Visitor Information Center in Beaufort.
We
thank folks like Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston,
N.C., for recommending her guests consider a daytrip to Beaufort to see the
murals.
The
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) had a bright idea in April 2019 to produce a series
of five “Post Office Murals” Forever stamps, featuring murals painted about 80
years ago. The stamps seemed to be a big hit with consumers.
The
headliner was “Airmail,” a mural painted by Daniel Rhodes, a native Iowan, that
hangs in the post office in Piggott, Ark., a city of about 4,000 people in the
upper northeast corner of the state near Missouri.
The
painting shows a local letter carrier helping pilots load bags of mail onto
their plane, representing “postal employees’ continuing commitment to serving
our customers and communities across the United States,” said Pat Mendonca of
the USPS.
Piggott
was chartered in 1891 and named after Dr. James A. Piggott, one of the early
settlers and “initiator of the local post office.”
Interestingly,
four of the post office murals selected to become stamps in 2019 were from
states west of the Mississippi River. How geographically correct is that?
In
addition to Piggott, Ark, the western locales are: Anadarko, Okla.; Florence,
Colo.; and Deming, N.M. The only eastern municipality represented is Rockville,
Md.
(Photo
by Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill Bed and Breakfast, Williamston, N.C.)
Perhaps
the USPS would consider a second series? Chloe Tuttle has great photos of two
Beaufort murals that would be great candidates – “Sand Ponies” and “Goose
Decoys.”
Simkhovitch
painted a grouping of three of the wild horses he saw roaming freely over the
“sand dunes and marshes of Beaufort in great numbers.” He also painted four
full-body decoys, posing as Canadian geese with a fish net drying in the
background.
Both
scenes “depict the importance of the water and maritime life to the local
economy,” commented Beaufort historian and artist Mary Warshaw.
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