The Barefoot Mailman

The Barefoot Mailman is a Florida historical marker in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, dedicated 1970.

At Spanish River Park, A1A, Boca Raton

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Along this beach in the 1880's and early 1890's walked United States mailmen on their sixty-six mile journey between Palm Beach and Miami. The trip required three days each way and they passed this spot the second day. They walked barefoot at the wet surf line, the hardest surface, with their mail bags and shoes slung over their shoulders. One of them, James E. Hamilton, drowned trying to cross Hillsborough Inlet.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1859 · Colton's Florida (1859) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1860 · Johnson's Florida (1860) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1870 · Johnson's Florida (1870) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1880 · Florida, Mobile. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1950 · Delray Beach, Florida (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Johnson's Florida (1870), 1870, covering the location of The Barefoot Mailman, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Johnson's Florida (1870), 1870, covering this location. Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Florida Historical Marker Program, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State

The Barefoot Mailman

Historical maps covering this location

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