Barefoot mailman
Encyclopedia
The term barefoot mailman refers to the carriers on the first U.S. Mail
route between Palm Beach
(established 1885), and the settlements around the body of water known as Lake Worth
on the north, and Miami, Cocoanut Grove, and Lemon City to the south. The mailmen had to walk because there was no road connecting the 68-mile route from Palm Beach to Miami (or to anywhere else, for that matter), and also no way to provide enough fresh water for a horse. Approximately 28 miles of the one way trip was by rowing different boats, and the rest by walking along the firmer sand along the beach. The original route was called a Star Route or contract route and it was not until a novel written in 1943 by Theodore Pratt titled The Barefoot Mailman that the term became associated with the route.
, the mail started its route in Jupiter
by steamboat to the rail head at Titusville
where it traveled by train north to the Port of New York and then by steamship to Havana. From Cuba, a schooner took the letter to Miami. It took a voyage of 3,000 miles and a period of six weeks to two months for a letter to arrive in Miami.
After the barefoot mailman route was established, a round trip of 136 miles from Palm Beach to Miami and back took six days. The carrier would leave Palm Beach on Monday morning, traveling by boat to the southern end of the Lake Worth Lagoon
. He would then cross over to the beach and walk down to the Orange Grove House of Refuge
in what is now Delray Beach
, where he would spend the night. The next day (Tuesday) he would continue walking down the beach to the Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge
, where he would spend that night. On Wednesday the carrier traveled by boat down the New River
to its inlet, and then would walk down the beach to Baker's Haulover
at the north end of Biscayne Bay
. Finally, he would travel down Biscayne Bay by boat to Miami. On Thursday he would start the return trip, arriving in Palm Beach on Saturday.
The barefoot route continued until 1892 when a rock road was completed from Jupiter to Miami, and the mail contract was taken over by the Bay Biscayne Stage Line.
A Florida state history marker, located at Boca Raton on the grounds of the Spanish River State Park, honors barefoot mailmen.
, would later become famous after his murder while serving as an early game warden
protecting the egrets being poached for tail feathers.
At least ten different men are known (and quite a few more are unknown) to have worked at one time or another on the "barefoot route". Henry John Burkhardt was the last barefoot mailmen. Other barefoot mailmen were George Charter, Andrew Garnett, Edward C. Pent, and George Sears. "Acre Foot" Johnson was a ballad
written and sung by the Florida folk singer
, Will McLean(website), about one of these mailmen who was renowned for the distances he could cover in a day.
(Trigg County
), and disappeared delivering mail on the route just after October 10, 1887, presumably drowned or taken by an alligator or crocodile while trying to swim across Hillsboro Inlet
to retrieve his boat from the far side. His body was never recovered. A "stranger from the north", identified by Hillsboro lighthouse
keeper Charles Coman, was suspected of foul play and was later charged with tampering with government property (Hamilton's row boat). Tried in Federal Court in Jacksonville, the "stranger" was acquitted and therefore his name was never entered in the court records.
The original stone statue of the Barefoot Mailman by Frank Varga is permanently displayed on the shores of the Hillsboro inlet next to the Hillsboro lighthouse with the following inscription:
's Section of Fine Arts
contracted with Stevan Dohanos
to paint six murals depicting the "Legend of James Edward Hamilton, Mail Carrier" in the West Palm Beach
, Florida Post Office. Charles W. Pierce, who had been one of the carriers on the "barefoot route", was Postmaster in Boynton Beach
, Florida at the time, and corresponded with Dohanos, providing photos of James Hamilton in the clothes he wore on the "barefoot route". Dohanos later recalled that Pierce first used the term "barefoot mailman" in their conversations, and that the term thereafter was applied to the murals. Some of the studies for the murals are now in the Smithsonian's American Art Museum.http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=6922
novel The Barefoot Mailman, based on the story of James Hamilton, was published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce
, New York. In 1951 the book was made into a movie
starring Robert Cummings
, Terry Moore
, Jerome Courtland
and John Russell
.
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
route between Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
(established 1885), and the settlements around the body of water known as Lake Worth
Lake Worth Lagoon
The Lake Worth Lagoon is a lagoon located in Palm Beach County, Florida. It runs parallel to the coast, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier beaches, including Palm Beach Island. The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by two permanent, man-made inlets.-Geography:Lake Worth...
on the north, and Miami, Cocoanut Grove, and Lemon City to the south. The mailmen had to walk because there was no road connecting the 68-mile route from Palm Beach to Miami (or to anywhere else, for that matter), and also no way to provide enough fresh water for a horse. Approximately 28 miles of the one way trip was by rowing different boats, and the rest by walking along the firmer sand along the beach. The original route was called a Star Route or contract route and it was not until a novel written in 1943 by Theodore Pratt titled The Barefoot Mailman that the term became associated with the route.
History
Prior to the contract carriers' mail between the northern settlements around Lake Worth and the southern settlements on Biscayne BayBiscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...
, the mail started its route in Jupiter
Jupiter, Florida
Jupiter is a town located in Palm Beach County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 39,328. The estimate population for 2009 is 50,606. As of 2006, the population had grown to 50,028, according to the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research....
by steamboat to the rail head at Titusville
Titusville, Florida
Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Brevard County. Nicknamed Space City, USA, Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore...
where it traveled by train north to the Port of New York and then by steamship to Havana. From Cuba, a schooner took the letter to Miami. It took a voyage of 3,000 miles and a period of six weeks to two months for a letter to arrive in Miami.
After the barefoot mailman route was established, a round trip of 136 miles from Palm Beach to Miami and back took six days. The carrier would leave Palm Beach on Monday morning, traveling by boat to the southern end of the Lake Worth Lagoon
Lake Worth Lagoon
The Lake Worth Lagoon is a lagoon located in Palm Beach County, Florida. It runs parallel to the coast, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier beaches, including Palm Beach Island. The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by two permanent, man-made inlets.-Geography:Lake Worth...
. He would then cross over to the beach and walk down to the Orange Grove House of Refuge
Houses of Refuge in Florida
The Houses of Refuge in Florida were a series of stations operated by the United States Life-Saving Service along the coast of Florida to rescue and shelter ship-wrecked sailors. Five houses were constructed on the east coast in 1876, with five more added in 1885...
in what is now Delray Beach
Delray Beach, Florida
Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...
, where he would spend the night. The next day (Tuesday) he would continue walking down the beach to the Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge
Houses of Refuge in Florida
The Houses of Refuge in Florida were a series of stations operated by the United States Life-Saving Service along the coast of Florida to rescue and shelter ship-wrecked sailors. Five houses were constructed on the east coast in 1876, with five more added in 1885...
, where he would spend that night. On Wednesday the carrier traveled by boat down the New River
New River (Broward County, Florida)
The New River is a river in South Florida, USA. The river originates in the Everglades and flows east. After passing through Fort Lauderdale, the river enters the Atlantic Ocean at Port Everglades cut. The river is entirely within Broward County and is composed from the junction of three main...
to its inlet, and then would walk down the beach to Baker's Haulover
Baker's Haulover Inlet
Baker's Haulover Inlet is a man-made channel in Miami-Dade County, Florida connecting the northern end of Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean, at coordinates . The inlet was cut in 1925 through a narrow point in the peninsula that extends to a point east of the mouth of the Miami River, and which...
at the north end of Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...
. Finally, he would travel down Biscayne Bay by boat to Miami. On Thursday he would start the return trip, arriving in Palm Beach on Saturday.
The barefoot route continued until 1892 when a rock road was completed from Jupiter to Miami, and the mail contract was taken over by the Bay Biscayne Stage Line.
A Florida state history marker, located at Boca Raton on the grounds of the Spanish River State Park, honors barefoot mailmen.
Barefoot Mailmen
The first barefoot mailman was Edwin Ruthven Bradley, a retired Chicago newsman and Lake Worth resident, who won the postal contract in 1885 with his winning bid of a salary of $600 per year. He and his son, Louis, took turns carrying the mail once a week for about two years. His second son, Guy BradleyGuy Bradley
Guy Morrell Bradley was an American game warden and deputy sheriff for Monroe County, Florida. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he relocated to Florida with his family when he was young...
, would later become famous after his murder while serving as an early game warden
Game warden
A game warden is an employee who has the role of protecting wildlife. Game wardens may also be referred to as conservation officers or wildlife officers...
protecting the egrets being poached for tail feathers.
At least ten different men are known (and quite a few more are unknown) to have worked at one time or another on the "barefoot route". Henry John Burkhardt was the last barefoot mailmen. Other barefoot mailmen were George Charter, Andrew Garnett, Edward C. Pent, and George Sears. "Acre Foot" Johnson was a ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
written and sung by the Florida folk singer
Folk Singer
Folk Singer is a 1964 album by Muddy Waters. Waters plays acoustic guitar, backed by Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar...
, Will McLean(website), about one of these mailmen who was renowned for the distances he could cover in a day.
Ed Hamilton
The most famous of the barefoot mailmen was James E. “Ed” Hamilton, who had come to Hypoluxo Island from Cadiz, KentuckyCadiz, Kentucky
Cadiz is a city in Trigg County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,373 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Trigg County. It is an old town located close to the Land Between the Lakes, a popular recreation area, and was a base of Union and Confederate operations in the American...
(Trigg County
Trigg County, Kentucky
Trigg County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1820. As of 2000, the population was 12,597. Its county seat is Cadiz. The county is named for Stephen Trigg, a frontier officer in the American Revolutionary War who died in the Battle of Blue Licks...
), and disappeared delivering mail on the route just after October 10, 1887, presumably drowned or taken by an alligator or crocodile while trying to swim across Hillsboro Inlet
Hillsboro Inlet
Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano Beach, Florida, USA is an inlet from the Atlantic Ocean that connects the ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway.- External links :*...
to retrieve his boat from the far side. His body was never recovered. A "stranger from the north", identified by Hillsboro lighthouse
Hillsboro Inlet Light
Hillsboro Inlet Light is located on the north side of Hillsboro Inlet, midway between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, in Hillsboro Beach, Florida...
keeper Charles Coman, was suspected of foul play and was later charged with tampering with government property (Hamilton's row boat). Tried in Federal Court in Jacksonville, the "stranger" was acquitted and therefore his name was never entered in the court records.
The original stone statue of the Barefoot Mailman by Frank Varga is permanently displayed on the shores of the Hillsboro inlet next to the Hillsboro lighthouse with the following inscription:
- In Memory of
James E. Hamilton
United States Mail Carrier
Who Lost His Life Here
in Line of Duty
October 11, 1887
Re-enactments
Several people from the Hillsboro Lighthouse Preservation Society take turns re-enacting the barefoot mailman as part of Hillsboro Lighthouse tours, conducted 6 times annually.Post office mural
In 1939 the Treasury DepartmentUnited States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
's Section of Fine Arts
Section of Painting and Sculpture
The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture , commonly known as "the Section," was established in 1934 and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury....
contracted with Stevan Dohanos
Stevan Dohanos
Stevan Dohanos was an artist and illustrator of the social realism school, best known for his Saturday Evening Post covers, and responsible for several of the Don't Talk set of World War II propaganda posters. He named Grant Wood and Edward Hopper as the greatest influences on his painting.Dohanos...
to paint six murals depicting the "Legend of James Edward Hamilton, Mail Carrier" in the West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
, Florida Post Office. Charles W. Pierce, who had been one of the carriers on the "barefoot route", was Postmaster in Boynton Beach
Boynton Beach, Florida
Boynton Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 60,389 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the city had a population of 66,714 according to the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research...
, Florida at the time, and corresponded with Dohanos, providing photos of James Hamilton in the clothes he wore on the "barefoot route". Dohanos later recalled that Pierce first used the term "barefoot mailman" in their conversations, and that the term thereafter was applied to the murals. Some of the studies for the murals are now in the Smithsonian's American Art Museum.http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=6922
Novel and film
In 1943 the Theodore PrattTheodore Pratt
Theodore Pratt was an American writer who is best known for his novels set in Florida. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1901 to Thomas A. and Emma Pratt. The family later moved to New Rochelle, New York, where Theodore attended high school...
novel The Barefoot Mailman, based on the story of James Hamilton, was published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce
Duell, Sloan and Pearce
Duell, Sloan and Pearce was a publishing company located in New York City. It was founded in 1939 by C. Halliwell Duell, Samuel Sloan and Charles A. Pearce. It initially published general fiction and non-fiction, but not westerns, light romances or children's books...
, New York. In 1951 the book was made into a movie
The Barefoot Mailman (film)
The Barefoot Mailman is a comedy-adventure film starring Robert Cummings and distributed by Columbia Pictures in 1951. The film was based on the 1943 novel The Barefoot Mailman by Theodore Pratt...
starring Robert Cummings
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
, Terry Moore
Terry Moore (actress)
Helen Luella Koford , better known as Terry Moore, is an American actress. Terry Moore made her film debut at age 11 and grew up with all the icons of the Hollywood era that made Hollywood what it is today, also known as "The Golden Age of Hollywood". Moore is an Academy Award nominated actress...
, Jerome Courtland
Jerome Courtland
Jerome Courtland is an American actor, director and producer. He acted in films in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and in television in the 1950s and 1960s...
and John Russell
John Russell (actor)
John Lawrence Russell was an American actor, and World War II veteran, most noted for playing Marshal Dan Troop in the successful ABC western television series Lawman from 1958 to 1962....
.