The Williamsville post office contains just 14 post office boxes. If the station closes, mail will be rerouted to Millboro, about 25 miles away.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Postmaster LaDonna Smith rings up a bill last week for area businessman Nelson Hoy at the post office in Williamsville. Residents of the Bath County community worry the post office will close in May after more than six decades of service.

The post office sits along a rural road in an isolated part of the county. The building's owner may not renew the lease with the federal government.

WILLIAMSVILLE -- Shasta, a blue-eyed mutt, is sprawled out on the porch in front of the post office.

Flecks of yellow paint are peeling from wooden siding on the building, which sits along a backwoods road in an isolated area of northern Bath County.

The acting postmaster, LaDonna Smith, is inside sorting mail for the 136 patrons served by the small Bath County station.

The post office's tiny lobby contains only 14 post office boxes -- the kind with old-fashioned combination dials. There is no parking lot. More than two customers at time can be considered a rush, and it's not uncommon to bump into a neighbor you haven't seen in awhile.

In an era when paying a bill online or sending an e-mail virtually anywhere in the world is as instantaneous as the click of a mouse, residents of rural communities such as Williamsville still rely on the local post office for mail delivery, stamps and money orders.

That is exactly why people in and around the quaint community are in an uncharacteristic uproar: The post office that has been there for more than six decades is in danger of closing May 31 because the owner of the building does not want to renew the lease with the federal government.

"We are still exploring options. This is definitely not what we want," said Cathy Boule, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service.

Postal officials learned in June that the lessor did not want to extend the lease, and subsequent attempts to resolve the issue have been unsuccessful, Boule said. The complications with renewing or extending the lease have prompted postal officials to take a closer look at the operation of the Williamsville post office, which generates less than $40 in average daily retail revenue.

Mail would be routed to Millboro, about 25 miles away, if the Williamsville station closes. The public gathered for a community meeting earlier this month to decry the closure. High winds had knocked out electricity in the area, but more than 50 resilient residents packed the church adjacent to the post office anyway, where the meeting was held and powered by generators.

"If I had to go to Millboro, it would take an hour and a half to pick up a small package," said Jane Bergamin, who said she visits the Williamsville post office two to three times a week to send certified mail or to ship international packages.

The trip from Williamsville to Millboro is not an easy one, over winding back roads shared with logging trucks. There is spotty, if any, cellphone service.

Mel Herwald, a member of the Concerned Citizens to Save the Williamsville Post Office, said postal officials have told him the best bet to keep a post office there is to negotiate a one-year lease extension.

Nevin Davis is the owner of the weathered building on Indian Draft Road that houses the post office. Attempts to reach Davis were unsuccessful.

Boule said the postal service pays $138 per month to rent the 189-square-foot space in Davis' building.

Five post offices -- including the one in Williamsville -- serve the fewer than 5,000 residents of Bath County, which spans 540 square miles. The others are in Bacova, Hot Springs, Warm Springs and Millboro.

"I have lived here since 1971, and I don't know where the Millboro post office is," Williamsville resident Anne McCaig said.

The Williamsville post office has been in that location since 1942. Across the road there is a general store, which was abandoned long ago, and a creek. Nearby are a state fish hatchery and a small telephone company.

"The post office is a source of pride to the people of the area. It means to them Williamsville is very much a part of Bath County," County Administrator Bonnie Johnson said.

McCaig said she fears the community will lose its identity if the post office closes, because that is what happened in 1984 when the nearby Burnsville post office closed.

"They lost their ZIP code. They also disappeared from maps. ... Burnsville doesn't exist anymore," she said.

Closing the post office would not only be a hardship for the residents but also for the handful of small businesses in the community.

Pam Webb of MGW Telephone Co. said the utility uses the post office to mail about 1,600 bills monthly. If the office closes, it means an employee would spend an hour each day driving to the post office. On top of that, the company just changed its letterhead and envelopes in recent years to reflect the E-911 address changes, which assigned numbered addresses throughout the county and cost businesses thousands of dollars.

"These are tough economic times," Webb said.

Nelson Hoy, who runs a small-business consulting firm, estimates mileage costs for trips to the Millboro post office would be close to $4,000 or more a year -- and that does not include costs for his time.

Stuart Hall, a member of the county's board of supervisors, said if the Williamsville post office closes, it will be the third station to close in his district during his 34-year tenure on the board. Hall said when the Burnsville post office was closed, postal officials assured residents the Williamsville station would remain open, which is extremely important to the elderly and disabled residents who use the post office's money order service in lieu of a bank.

"Our largest industry here is the tourism industry. People make $6 to nine an hour. They can't afford to drive to Millboro -- it's so doggone far away from anything."