The vacant building that once housed Maryus Post Office sustained heavy damage during a fire early Friday morning.

Robert Parlett, president of Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue, Inc., said Monday that cause of the fire has not been determined. However, he added that there was lightning with a thunderstorm at the time firefighters were on scene.

Betty Brown of Bena, who served as Maryus postmaster from 1973-2002, said the building was flooded by Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and the U.S. Postal Service never reopened the Maryus Post Office although it once said plans were underway to set up a mobile unit there. Brown said her family had leased the building to USPS for many years.

The building began in the 1930s as a general store, Brown said, and a separate post office area was later added. She said she was raised at the store and succeeded her father, the late Carroll Williams, as postmaster.
Another relative, James Williams, was appointed the first postmaster at Maryus on July 19, 189...