New Rattlesnake Island stamps mark local history

RATTLESNAKE ISLAND — The new Rattlesnake Island stamps that will be issued this week are pretty much useless until you are trying to mail something from the small, privately owned island. That's what makes the stamps so unusual and interesting to stamp collectors, said Dave Gill, postmaster general for the Rattlesnake Island Local Post, which provides mail service for the small island located near the Bass Islands. A first-day-of-issue ceremony for the stamps will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Liberty Aviation Museum, 3515 E. State Road, Port Clinton. Significance of the stamps The stamps depict Rattlesnake Island and also celebrate the Fort Tri-Motor Tin Goose airplane, which used to fly to the Lake Erie islands. At the insistence of the post office, the stamps are triangular so that Rattlesnake Island stamps won't be confused with regular postal service stamps. Post office officials will be on hand to cancel the stamps with special Tri-Motor pictorial postmarks. That is a normal courtesy for stamp collectors, as it creates a collectible item called a First Day Cover. Stamps also may be purchased from the Rattlesnake Island Local Post website, rilp.org. While the stamps likely mostly will interest stamp collectors, the Rattlesnake Island stamps do have an actual use. Rattlesnake Island has a local post, authorized by federal law, because the U.S. Postal Service does not provide service to the island. That's why the special stamps come into play. If someone wants to mail a letter or a postcard from Rattlesnake Island, the piece of mail needs two stamps: • A Rattlesnake Island stamp, which will get the piece of mail off the island • A regular post office stamp, which will allow the letter to be delivered once it's in the mail stream Gill explained that a contract with Griffing Flying Service provides that if an airplane happens to land on the island, it will pick up the mail. It can sometimes be a few days between flights. The island has one mailbox, and the Rattlesnake Island stamps come in denominations of 50 cents, a first-class envelope or a large envelope. Gill admits that the postal operation he now runs isn't really necessary in the age of the internet and cellphones but said the Rattlesnake Island Local Post filled a real need back in the day. "I brought it back to life, keeping the history alive," he said. Lay of the land Rattlesnake Island is a small island, 85 acres, located west of Middle Bass Island and also not far from South Bass Island. The Rattlesnake Island Club owns the island and its marina, airport, restaurant and cabins for rent. Air service is provided by a grass airstrip that's part of an 18-hole golf course. Only two people live on the island year-round, although in the summer the population can swell to about 40, Gill said. There used to be more local posts in the U.S., but they have pretty much gone away as regular mail service became available almost everywhere, Gill said. Gill said Dr. James Frackelton started the Rattlesnake Island Local Post on Aug. 27, 1966, so the scheduled ceremony marks the 60th anniversary. Frackelton soon ran into a snag. The original Rattlesnake Island stamps were rectangular, but postal officials were not pleased. By December, the post office had sent a "cease and desist" letter, complaining that the stamps looked too much like regular postage stamps. By January, the stamps had been switched to a triangle design that would not be mistaken for post office stamps, and the post office dropped its complaint. A piece on Rattlesnake Island's postal struggles ran on the Huntley-Brinkley Report, the flagship NBC News national broadcast back in the day, Gill said. There was an odd sequel to that news report. It was translated into Hungarian, and somehow Rattlesnake Island's situation was described as more dire than it actually was, as the island's puzzled residents suddenly began getting care packages from Hungary, Gill said. For years, the island postal service filled a real need. Sometimes a phone line could be snagged by a fisherman, and phone service would be lost for awhile. Local postal service ended in 2010, and Gill revived it in 2022. "Is there a definite need for it? No. It's more philatelic history," Gill said. Gill, 62, lives on Catawba Island. He is retired as the owner of Ken Gill Construction, an excavation company started by his father. He became focused on stamp collecting. According to Gill, Rattlesnake Island Local Post is the only airmail local post in the U.S. Airmail local post refers to mail flown by aircraft specifically for short-range delivery within a local region or a private/local postal service's small coverage area.