ROCHESTER POST SERVICE
When Rochester was first settled there was no mail service at all. In 1768 this changed when a post rider travelled from Portsmouth through Berwick, Dover and Rochester bringing gazettes. In 1792 this improved when Joseph Paine would deliver and pick up mail once a week. When he arrived in town a horn would blow to inform the town of his presence. A regular post office was established on March 26, 1812, in the Barke Taven The first postmaster in Rochester was named William Barker.