Debbie Almy has been spending her summers in Craigville since she was six months old.

Her parents first came to Craigville in 1944 to escape the heat of Providence, Rhode Island. After a few years, the family bought the cottage where she still resides on Ocean Avenue and named it “The White House.” She has summered here ever since.

Since 1999, when the U.S. Postal Service closed down the village post office, Debbie has been known as “the post office lady,” operating the former post office as a shop for all-things Craigville. “I liked being called the post office lady, and I liked all the responsibility that came with founding the store,” she said, adding, “but it’s time to pass the buck.”

After 27 volunteer years at the helm, Debbie has turned the keys back to CCMA. “We are so thankful to Debbie for her leadership and will seek to honor her legacy as we maintain the post office as a core community space,” said Lisa Brown, CCMA President.

It was Debbie’s idea to create a store where visitors could purchase various mementos of their terrific stays in Craigville. “I saw the need for a store where people could find things that represented the Village,” she said. That inventory grew to include Craigville-themed clothing, dishware, glassware, potholders and aprons, notebooks and other stationery, and so much more. Debbie did all the purchasing, which wasn’t always easy. “It was surprising that things I would assume would be good sellers would then just flop.”

Bill McKinney, former CCMA president, applauds Debbie” for giving people more than a place to buy clothing and other things.” “Her collection of Craigville Memories for the Craigville Bicentennial is but one example of the ways she has helped connect past, present and future.” He points out that, though Debbie has decided to retire her post office role, her “vision of the post office as a village gathering place to greet neighbors and purchase Craigville merchandise will live on.”

In August 2003, Debbie was quoted in The Cape Cod Times in a feature article about historic Craigville Village. She told reporter Johanna Crosby: “Summering in Craigville is like being in the slow lane. I call it my heaven on earth.”

Article published in May 2026 Craigville Chronicle