The TTPO, as first created in December 2013.
Close-up. Notice the real lamp! And the postmaster's spectacles on the desk! The "wall clock" is Lea's wrist-watch face from when she was in middle school.
Hikers started to leave notes! So I added a bulletin board to make TTPO communications a little simpler. Also, the floor fell out! So we laid a plywood-eucalyptus wood floor to stabilize everything. The desk disappeared, so I built a new one... Oh? What's inside that tiny red mailbox?
Hikers who passed by after one of Lea's care-taking sessions got to take a tiny letter home.
Hikers left notes, messages, and parcels of various sorts! For fairies, for each other, for the real mail, wow!
Just one month worth of mail left at the TTPO!
"GOAT POST"
The reverse side of the "GOAT POST" postcard, left by a hiker.
I even found real stamped mail one time I went to check on the TTPO! (I put them in larger envelopes and dropped them into a real-world mailbox.)
People leave trinkets at the TTPO. It's almost like a little shrine.
A contribution from a TTPO visitor. Perhaps to deliver tiny mail by tiny horseback?
Hand-stitched tiny overalls! Another contribution from a TTPO visitor.
Wise words left on the bulletin board.
The TTPO at night.
Tiny Tilden Post Office
Hiding in a knothole along the Curran Trail…
Fit for a field mouse, or a young butterfly, or even a flying fairy, this little outpost is even smaller than Lea’s original World’s Smallest Post Service set-up around town. The Tiny Tilden Post Office is tucked into a knothole in an old tree along the Curran Trail in Tilden Park. Since Lea installed it in December of 2013, countless hikers and dog walkers have enjoyed this unexpected world of postal tiny-ness.
At first, the TTPO’s tiny delights were reserved for those with a patient hiking pace and a keen eye. Then I decided to release a map to encourage locals and visitors alike to get out into the woods and follow the map to this hidden treasure. You are invited to join in the fun! Print this webpage, cut out the map (below), stuff it in your pocket, and set out on a small adventure!
When Lea first set up the TTPO, she had no idea it would survive so long! She actually installed the diorama in order to create a photograph for a friend, and after snapping the photos she figured she might as well just leave it there, for kicks. To Lea’s great surprise and delight, she returned months later to find the tiny treehouse post thriving. Hikers had regularly restocked the office with tiny notes written on scraps of trail maps. They’d rearranged the furniture. A few even added small trinkets to the scene. One time when Lea went to check on the TTPO, she noticed that inside the little bird cage was a big fuzzy bumble bee that someone must have found on the ground during their hike and put inside the cage. Amazing! (See the gallery at top-left for more fun details.)
The care and respect that strangers have given this knothole wonder is heart warming. I had no idea what would happen when I set it up. Fortunately, for every item that manages to wander off, something else new and remarkable seems to appear at the same time.
If you’re ever near the intersection of the Curran and Wildcat Gorge Trails, wander over for a little visit. You just might stumble upon something to write home about.
