Editing Bethlehem, Georgia (section)

===Holiday postal tradition===
[[File:Estampilla de los Estados Unidos 1967 000.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.75|alt=A copy of a 1967 stamp featuring Madonna and the newborn Jesus|The 1967 US "Madonna and Child" stamp]]

Bethlehem's post office is popular during the holiday season for sending cards and letters,<ref name="holidaymail" /><ref name="500k" /> as mail sent from there will feature Bethlehem's [[Cancellation (mail)|cancellation mark]] and [[cachet]], so that holiday mail sent will state that it is sent with "Greetings from Bethlehem."<ref name="mailnumbers" /> This special Bethlehem cancellation mark is made with a stamping machine called a flier canceler. Bethlehem's flier canceler is more than 100 years old and is the only one still in use by the U.S. Postal Service.<ref name="holidaymail">{{Cite web |last=Bridges |first=Kathy |date=December 18, 2018 |title=Barrow County's Bethlehem gets its postmarks ready for Christmas |url=https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/barrow-countys-bethlehem-gets-its-postmarks-ready-for-christmas/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=[[The Gainesville Times (Georgia)|The Gainesville Times]] |archive-date=July 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718144312/https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/barrow-countys-bethlehem-gets-its-postmarks-ready-for-christmas/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Bethlehem post office's special cachet features the [[Three Wise Men]] and the [[Star of Bethlehem]].<ref name="500k">{{Cite web |last=Kent |first=Peter J. |date=December 11, 1997 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |title=Following Yonder Star: For Christmas card senders, the destination is Bethlehem |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635634/bethlehem-stamp/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]  |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715095128/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635634/bethlehem-stamp/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Traveling to Bethlehem to send holiday mail is a holiday tradition for visitors of the town and the Bethlehem post office sends hundreds of thousands of pieces of mail during each Christmas season.<ref name="holidaymail" /><ref name="mailnumbers">{{Cite web |last=Johnston |first=Andy |date=December 13, 2011 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |title=Little town goes all out for holiday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635735/bethlehem-post-office-numbers/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715100354/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635735/bethlehem-post-office-numbers/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The post office also has hand-stamps that customers can use to stamp "Christmas Greetings from Bethlehem" on their letters and cards before being sent.<ref name="stamp2">{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrea |date=December 21, 2001 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |title=Annual stampede: Postmark from Bethlehem is seasonal symbol for crowds |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635862/christmas-greetings-from-bethlehem/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715101904/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635862/christmas-greetings-from-bethlehem/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The tradition began in 1967, when the [[United States Postal Service]] debuted a special [[Christmas stamp]] at the Bethlehem post office with a ceremony that included then-governor of Georgia [[Lester Maddox]] and Assistant U.S. Postmaster General Richard J. Murphy.<ref name="500k" /><ref name="1967stamp">{{Cite web |date=November 7, 1967 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |title=Stamp Ceremony ends in Bethlehem |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635891/1967-stamp-bethlehem-post-office/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715103554/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635891/1967-stamp-bethlehem-post-office/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  While it was the sixth Christmas stamp produced by the US Postal Service, it was the first Christmas stamp to be produced in the larger commemorative size, which is almost twice the size of the previous Christmas stamp.<ref name="commemorative">{{Cite news |date=November 4, 1967 |title=New Yule Stamp for 1967 Honors Bethlehem, Ga. |page=3 |work=[[Idaho Statesman]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105837097/ |access-date=July 18, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=July 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718161321/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105837097/the-idaho-statesman/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The stamp was a reproduction of [[Hans Memling]]'s ''Madonna and Child with Angels''.<ref name="smithsonian_stamp">{{Cite web |title=1966 and 1967 Traditional Christmas Issues |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/the-art-of-christmas-stamps/1966-and-1967-traditional-christmas-issues |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=[[Smithsonian]] |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715103607/https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/the-art-of-christmas-stamps/1966-and-1967-traditional-christmas-issues |url-status=live }}</ref> Despite only regularly employing the postmaster and one other part-time employee in a town that at the time had around 350 people,<ref name="postal_employee">{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1967 |title=Yule Mail is Booming in Bethlehem, Ga. |page=11 |work=[[Belleville News-Democrat]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105837470/ |access-date=July 18, 2022 |archive-date=July 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718161244/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105837470/the-belleville-news-democrat/ |url-status=live }}</ref> this stamp was requested by so many people that the town's postmaster hired 43 temporary workers to handle the increased workload<ref name="stamp">{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Rebecca |date=December 24, 2004 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |title=Bethlehem is one happy stamper |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635576/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |page=J3 |archive-date=January 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111035616/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105635576/bethlehem-post-office-stamp/ |url-status=live }}</ref> caused by people sending in their mail to Bethlehem to be re-sent out with the Christmas stamp's first-day-of-issue date of November 6.<ref name="1967stamp" /> The Bethlehem post office ultimately sent out around 500,000 cards and letters during the 1967 Christmas season.<ref name="500k" />