The Post Office at Ausable Chasm, New York, Sept. 1, 1939

A photo of a cluttered or untidy or "unprofessional" background for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

Handwritten note on the back of this photo: "'The Post Office,' Ausable Chasm, N.Y., 9/1/39."

Ausable Chasm is a "sandstone gorge and tourist attraction located in the village of Keeseville, New York." Promoted as the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks, the chasm is a place where visitors can go climbing on the rock walls of the gorge, hiking along its trails, and rafting on the Ausable River, which runs through it.

As seen here, the Post Office at Ausable Chasm is an area where the "rock walls are porous enough to allow tacks and other similar items to penetrate the rock like a bulletin board for the purpose of posting a note." A "Post Office" sign is partially hidden amid the shadows and messages in the center of the photo (hopefully this cluttered wall of notes qualifies as enough of a background--rather than a fore- or middle ground--for this week's VPTP theme).

Unfortunately, the Post Office closed in 2004 due to the erosion and litter caused by the tacked-up notes. A logbook was placed at the site so that visitors can still leave notes for others to read.

Postcard views of the Post Office are available over on Flickr (see Vintage Postcard - Post Office, Ausable Chasm, New York and A Busy Day at the "Post Office" in Famous Ausable Chasm, NY), and a more recent photo shows the rocks without any messages (see Ausable Chasm "Post Office").