DEERFIELD — The U.S. Postal Service has honored the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) with a Forever stamp for its continued efforts in promoting the history and culture of the region.

A brief ceremony was held outside Memorial Hall Museum last Wednesday, as Deerfield Postmaster Robin Driscoll presented a Forever stamp featuring 10 men and women who helped guide enslaved people through the Underground Railroad. The museum was honored for its dedication to telling the underrepresented stories of history, including those of Blacks and Native Americans.

“Dedicated to the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association in gratitude for recognizing and sharing the culture of the Pocumtuck,” the official dedication reads.

PVMA board of directors President Carol Letson attended the dedication for the museum. She said the dedication served as a nice reinforcement of PVMA’s work.

In 1994, the museum began its African Americans in Rural New England project and, over the course of 30 years, has hosted artists, documented Black history sites in town and has hosted numerous events in the region dedicated to exploring African-American history.

“It’s marvelous,” she said. “We’re very pleased that this recognition goes along with that theme.”

More information about PVMA’s African Americans in Rural New England work can be found at bit.ly/3yltwKO.

A Forever stamp issued by the Postal Service can be used to mail a 1-ounce letter regardless of when the stamps are purchased or used and no matter how prices may change in the future, according to the Postal Service. The Underground Railroad stamp was issued on March 9.

Alongside PVMA’s dedication was one for Museum Manager Tom Mershon, whom Driscoll called “an extraordinary gardener” for his work beautifying Old Deerfield with flowers. Mershon was honored with the “garden delight” stamps, which feature hummingbirds and flowers and symbolize the “relationship between flora and fauna.”

Mershon, who is often referred to as the museum’s “director of happiness,” said he began working with the flowers around the Post Office during the pandemic with the hope of providing people with something beautiful to look at during a difficult time.

“I started doing that in COVID. I figured [the Post Office] was the one place people could see each other,” Mershon said. “It really is a labor love.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.