Postal cuts may ground deliveries on ‘golden pond’

BELGRADE – The mail boat route featured in the award-winning movie “On Golden Pond” is in jeopardy because of the U.S. Postal Service’s budget crunch.

The mail boat has been delivering letters, groceries, people and more to houses along the shores of Great Pond for decades.

Ernest Thompson, who grew up on Great Pond, wrote the screenplay for the 1981 movie “On Golden Pond,” the Academy Award winner that starred Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda.

The boat will continue delivering mail this summer, but it will also come under review as the Postal Service takes a close look at all rural mail carrier contracts, said Leanne Payeur, Postal Service spokeswoman for Maine.

Already, the start of this summer’s mail boat service has been delayed two weeks, and the hours of the Belgrade Lakes post office have been cut back. The review of the mail boat service will include a survey of more than 100 residents, many of whom have summer homes.

Tammy Holman, who has contracted with the Postal Service the past few years to deliver the mail on Great Pond, said the area would be losing a tradition if it loses the mail boat service.

“It’s a piece of Belgrade history,” she said.

Belgrade Lakes postmaster Dexter Bridges said the Great Pond mail service began in the 1940s, when the owner of the Great Pond Marina began picking up mail along with the groceries that he delivered to lakeside residents.

In recent years, Holman has provided summer service six days a week. She estimated that it costs the Postal Service $10,000 to $12,000 a year.

Sally and Ronald Smith have had their mail delivered by boat for the past 15 years. They are concerned that the post office in the village of Belgrade Lakes doesn’t have enough parking for people who would have to go there to pick up their mail.

The mail boat “was in the movie and so many people relate to that,” Holman said. “It’s a great experience for people on the lake, and the idea that people can ride on the boat.”