Through Rain, Sleet or Snow: Rural Mailboxes of Nova Scotia

by Vernon Oickle

This book is a collection of rapidly disappearing, unique rural Nova Scotia mailboxes that are still practical but which are built in an arts and crafts style. Full of whimsy, humour and colour, some of these definitely qualify as folk art.

176 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2024

About the author

Vernon Oickle lives in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. He studied journalism in Lethbridge, Alberta and upon his graduation in 1982, he returned to his hometown to begin his newspaper career. Since then, Vernon has won many regional, national and international awards for writing and photography. In 2012, he won the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors’ Golden Quill Award for best editorial writing, becoming only the third Canadian and the first Nova Scotian to win this honour since it was first presented in 1961.

Today, he is the editor of the nationally award-winning newspaper, The Lunenburg County Progress Bulletin in Bridgewater. Since October 1995 he has been writing the popular and award winning column, The Editor’s Diary. Helping to shape and influence public opinion on a wide range of topics that over time, his writing increasingly touches a populist nerve by airing topics important to his readers.

In addition to being an award winning journalist and editor, Vernon is the author of 18 books, many of which collect and preserve the heritage and culture of Atlantic Canada. In 2010 he launched a series of novels that get their names from a Maritime folklore rhyme about seven crows.

Reviews

[Sue Slade · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Representing a wide variety of cultural, artistic, historical and political perspectives, these unique mailbox creations present an intriguing outlook on the Canadian experience. Regrettably, as Canada Post begins to phase out these rural mailboxes in favour of larger, community-based boxes, these uniquely Canadian pieces of folk art are destined to become obsolete and are likely to someday fade into the pages of history, not before we can capture them in photos!” page 10

The intent of picking up a copy of Through Rain, Sleet or Snow by Vernon Oickle was to admire the creativity of my fellow Nova Scotians. To admire their talent, pick out my favourite mailboxes and even compare favourites with my family. What I didn’t foresee or expect was to become a little emotional and nostalgic. After reading the introduction, it really hit home that my son will never feel the joy of seeing the red flag standing up on a mailbox and running to the end of the driveway to get the mail. Email is replacing snail-mail and community-based mailboxes are replacing rural mailboxes. They are slowly becoming obsolete and a thing of the past. I am delighted that Vernon Oickle has captured a piece of our soon-to-be history in this wonderful book.

Flipping through the pages we found some boxes that we have pegged as our all-time favourites like the ones done up to look like a lobster trap, a house or a cottage. Some made us laugh and smile at their absurdity, thinking about all the postal workers that have delivered mail to these boxes, some have had to stick their hand in the mouth of a fish to deliver the mail. Some of the stories behind the boxes were heartwarming, describing mailboxes as memorials. Some were advertisements for their businesses or examples of their hobbies. This book would be a wonderful gift to any Maritimer and a perfect fit for any cottage in our province.