I love a great story and as a blogger I fancy myself as somewhat of a story teller. It kind of explains my recent obsession to listening to podcasts that are basically just little stories.
I read a story in the amazing “Our State” Magazine a couple of years ago and declared out loud “I am going to go visit this place.”. If you have never read an article in this publication you should. Their gifted writers make readers want to visit every single place that is highlighted between the pages of their colorful publication. I have saved years worth of copies and refer back to them all of the time and have even placed some in my Little Free Library for others to enjoy. It is truly an amazing magazine. Even if you are not a North Carolina resident this is a magazine worth checking out.
The article that I read back in June 2015 was one that featured a mailbox. Yes, a mailbox. This mailbox is located on a beach and has attracted over 100,000 visitors over the years since Frank Nesmith put “her” up. Frank refers to the Kindred Spirit mailbox as a her because that is how he pictures it in his mind. The mailbox is a community mailbox that holds and keeps some journals, pens, and a multitude of thoughts and dreams that those who stop by share with her. If you want to read the article that inspired me you can click here to read “Kindred Spirit Mailbox Serves as Symbol of Hope on Bird Island.” It is definitely worth your time.
But what prompted this blog post today is that while I did not make it to the original Kindred Spirit mailbox I did indeed find a mailbox on the beach. Not just one mailbox but three. All located outside our small rental condo at The Shell Island Resort at Wrightsville Beach.
I looked online and found a story about one of them but it does not explain the other two that are there. One seems to be in better shape than the other and from what I could find online the mailboxes are now maintained by student ambassadors from UNC Wilmington.
All of the mailboxes were jam packed full of notes.
This one had a fun calendar type notebook in it that was pretty filled up.
The story about the Wrightsville Beach mailbox (click here to read the story) is that it was started in 2003 by Bernie and Sidney Nykanen who loved this spot on the beach. They placed the simple mailbox with the signage “Leave a Note” on the side, red flag up and watched as the notebooks got filled. After 11 years they turned the over 200 notebooks over to the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History where visitors can read all of the thousands of entries.
I loved the shell cross that someone attached to the mailbox post.
I had to read some of the entries that I found in the mailboxes. Who wouldn’t ?
What a wonderful and unusual thing to stumble upon on a sunny North Carolina day. I loved it and witnessed several folks leaving notes inside. They are jam packed and hopefully one of those student ambassadors will be by soon to collect the dreams, wishes and thoughts and allow others to continue to place theirs in the mailboxes by the sea.
If you wondered if I left a note I did. Not anything deep or emotional. Just sweet and simple.
Someday. Someday. When I own a beach home I might just put up a mailbox for dreams and wishes and prayers. Right next to the Little Free Library.
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