Portsmouth Island Homecoming and Cape Lookout Lighthouse cover
-
- Portsmouth Island Homecoming and Cape Lookout Lighthouse
-
- Portsmouth Island Homecoming and Cape Lookout Lighthouse
The village of Portsmouth was settled in 1753 on Portsmouth Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and served as a lightering port where cargo could be transferred to shallower craft to be carried to the mainland.
The population dwindled once it no longer served its original purpose. In 1966, when the village was incorporated into the Cape Lookout National Seashore (which also encompasses the well-known lighthouse), it was already mostly uninhabited. In 1971, the last two remaining residents left the village, leaving it a ghost town.
In the decades since, descendants of Portsmouth Village families have held a "homecoming" every two years. The homecoming now has the backing of the National Park Service (which administers the Cape Lookout National Seashore), and the public is invited to join, regardless of their families' historic connection to the island.
2016 marks a threefold alignment of commemorations: it is a homecoming year, the centennial of the National Park Service, and the semicentennial of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. The USPS sponsored a pictorial postmark on for the occasion, dated April 30th, that notes this coincidence. It should be noted that it is also an especially hopeful year: the National Park Service intends to rehabilitate the Cape Lookout lighthouse and restore the Portsmouth Village Historic District.
The cachet is a photograph from the beach of Cape Lookout, taking up the majority of the face of the envelope, with the inscription "Cape Lookout" in script in the lower-left. The lighthouse is visible in the distance. It bears one 37¢ Cape Lookout Lighthouse stamp (Scott #3788) and two National Park Service semicentennial stamps (Scott #1314) and is postmarked with the pictorial.
I am utterly torn as to which of the two examples I've posted I like more. I like the first because all the stamps are actually tied to the cover by the postmark; I like the second because the cancel is completely legible. Which is your favorite?