Old_Florida
The Owsley Tidepool
Barefoot Mailmen Old Florida
When much of the state was little more than gleaming white beaches pounded by waves, glades of grass, mangrove swamps and forests of live oaks draped in Spanish Moss, before the building of the railroad, the mail was delivered by a unique and rugged group of men whom walked the better part of a hundred-mile stretch of beach along the wild roadless southeast coast between Jupiter Lighthouse and Miami.
They found it easier to walk barefoot on the soft, giving sand, and had a special technique for being an accomplished beach walkist. It took three days each way for the carrier to cover his route; he walked nearly seven thousand miles each year, 6 days a week, under broiling sun, in balmy air heavy with salt mist, sometimes even through March northeasterns or summer hurricanes. Aside from their mail their provisions were sparse and included usually a fry pan, matches, salt pork, and potatoes. Their rations were supplemented by fish and goods washed ashored from wrecked ocean going schooners.
(from Florida's Past by Gene Burnett published in 1991,and The Barefoot Mailman by Theodore Pratt published in 1943)
