It stretches across an entire wall, above hundreds of P.O. boxes. Some walk in and don't see it. Others see it and assume it's been there all along.

The mural in the Onset Post Office was completed in 2007 by artist and former-resident Pam Rainey at the request of Onset Postmaster Robin Enos, who was looking for a volunteer to spruce up the lobby with some art.

"I wanted the office to be 'postal,' as well as depict something from Onset," said Enos, who has been the postmaster in Onset since 2005. She said she wanted customers to feel welcome in the office. "It's all Onset," she said.

The mural gives a view of the bay from Shell Point to the Stone Bridge (which is complete with people jumping off of it into the water) and beyond.

Rainey volunteered to paint the mural after hearing that Enos was looking for an artist.

"I said, 'Well how much were you thinking of paying?,' and they said 'We were thinking nothing,'" Rainey recalled with a laugh. "I went away and thought about it for a little bit and thought, 'What the heck?'"

Rainey had lived in town since 1982, but she was losing her house and moving to New Bedford. "I thought, 'I have to leave town. It's a nice thing to leave behind me,'" she said.

So she took a kayak into Onset Bay and started snapping photos of the scene to reference while painting. The mural took her several weeks to complete.

"While I was painting, the Post Office customers were coming in and out," Rainey said. "People would say, 'Oh, I think that's my house,' or 'Oh, can you put my house in it?'"

Post Office customer Pamela Edmunds remembers the weeks Rainey spend painting the mural. "I just think she did an awesome job," she said while sorting through mail. "It's a shame more people can't see it."

Enos said she was impressed with the amount of detail in the painting, adding that it came out better than she imagined. "[Rainey] is just a brilliant artist," Enos said. "I think [the mural] brought together the community and the Postal Service."

Enos encourages everyone who'd like to take a closer look at the mural to stop by the Onset Post Office. Rainey can be contacted at 508-999-4751 for more information about her artwork.