Today in Transportation History: January 22, 1673 The first regular overland mail-delivery service in the present-day U.S. was launched when a post rider departed New York City on horseback for Boston. In response to a directive from England’s King Charles II to establish closer communications among the northern colonies in North America, New York Colony Governor Francis Lovelace worked with Connecticut Colony Governor John Winthrop the Younger and Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Leverett to establish a reliable postal route throughout their respective jurisdictions. The name of the first rider on what became known as the Boston Post Road has been lost to history, but the instructions he received from Lovelace for the inaugural journey survive today. “You are to comport yourself with all sobriety and civility to those that shall entrust you . . . You are principally to ally yourself to the Governors, especially Gov. Winthrop, from who you shall receive the best direction to form ye best Post Road,” noted Lovelace in those instructions. The first postal run on the route would take approximately two to three weeks, as the rider – traveling 250 miles altogether along mostly desolate trails in the wilderness – made mail deliveries in such communities as New Haven, Hartford, Brookfield, Worcester, and Cambridge before finally reaching Boston. He and subsequent postal riders used axes to mark up trees en route to help guide others likewise delivering mail. The Boston Post Road proved to be pivotal in more closely linking what had been generally isolated settlements in the northeastern region of the British colonies and paving the way for similar routes elsewhere along the eastern seaboard. In the longer term, the segments that constituted the Boston Post Road evolved into several of the first major highways in the U.S. (PHOTOS: - #1, Boston Post Road Milestone 59, Spencer MA by John Phelan - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_Post_Road_Milestone_59,_Spencer_MA.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Boston_Post_Road_Milestone_59,_Spencer_MA.jpg; #2 - A map of Connecticut & Rhode Island, with Long Island Sound, &c. (Boston Post Road is clearly marked), courtesy of UConn Libraries MAGIC, https://flic.kr/p/65vUTt; #3 - Francis Lovelace by Contemporary portrait - threerivershms/knittlech2.htm. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FrancisLovelace.jpg#mediaviewer/File:FrancisLovelace.jpg; #4 - John Winthrop the Younger, courtesy of PBS, pbs.org/godinamerica/people/john-winthrop.html; #5 - John Leverett In Military Uniform by Unknown - books.google/books?id=dfgOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP10#v=onepage&f=false. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JohnLeverettInMilitaryUniform.jpg#mediaviewer/File:JohnLeverettInMilitaryUniform.jpg)
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:11:57 +0000
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