In Virginia, the mail-bag was passed along from plantation to plantation, and each planter was required by law, passed in 1757, to send a messenger with it to his next neighbor, under a penalty of a hogshead of tobacco. Every man took out his own letters from the bag, and so on to the remainder.
In 1672 the government of New York established a monthly mail to Boston, advertising that those disposed to send letters should bring them to the secretary’s office, where, in a “locket-box,” they shall be preserved till the messenger calls for them; all persons paying the post before the “bagg be sealed up.”
In 1692 the office of postmaster-general for North America was created; but as late as 1704 no post-rider went farther east than Boston, or farther south than Baltimore. When Franklin was appointed postmaster-general, in 1753, the line of posts still began at Boston, and went no farther south than Charleston.
In 1738 Henry Pratt was made riding-postmaster for all the stages between Philadelphia and Newport, Virginia, “to set out in the beginning of each month, and to return in twenty-four days. To him all merchants, &c. may confide their letters and other business, he having given security to the postmaster-general.”
In 1744 it was announced in the Gazette that the “Northern post begins his fortnight stages on Tuesday next for the winter season.” In 1745 John Dalley, Surveyor of the State, says that he has just made survey of the road from Trenton to Amboy, and has set up marks at every two miles to guide the traveller!
An attempt was made in 1692 to establish post-routes throughout Virginia. A patent was laid before the Virginia Assembly for making a Mr. Neal postmaster-general of that and other parts of America; but though the Assembly passed an act in favor of this patent, it had no effect. The reason assigned was that it was impossible to carry it into execution, on account of the dispersed situations of the inhabitants.
The locality of the colonial post-offices is a matter of doubt; but, as nearly all the public departments were located in private houses, the presumption is that the post-office was, under Bradford, at his printing-office, and it is more than probable that Benjamin Franklin’s residence, corner of Second and Race, was, or at least a portion of it, used for postal purposes. The first located building used for the purpose was on the east side of Water Street, a few doors below High Street,—the same house which had before been the residence of the chief justice.
It is evident from the old records that all along Water Street and Front Street, extending to South, the chief business of the city was transacted. The earliest papers show by their advertisements that many of the goods for retail were sold on Water Street. Even Penn Street at that early period was of some note; and there are to this day many buildings in its immediate vicinity which bear date prior to 1750. As early as 1737 Mrs. Fishbourne kept a store in Water Street below Walnut, expressly for “ladies’ goods.” In Water Street above Pine Street, in 1755, there was a fashionable furnishing-store for gentlemen’s wearing apparel. The “Old London Coffee-House” stood at the corner of Front and Market Streets: it was the resort of merchants and the élite of the city.[29] All that portion of Front and Second Streets extending as far down as Almond was termed “Society Hill,” and was the nucleus around and near which the tradesmen, the milliners, mantuamakers, and retail merchants gathered.
William Penn, Jr., had a small house at the corner of Second and South Streets. The scenery in the neighborhood of Second and Dock Streets is described by old historians as being very beautiful. Watson says, “Looking across the ‘Dock Creek,’ westward, we see all the margin of the creek adorned with every grace of shrubbery and foliage; and beyond it a gently sloping descent from the line of Second Street, whereon were hutted a few of the natives’ wigwams, intermixed among the shadowy trees. A bower near there, and a line of deeper verdure on the ground, marked ‘the Spring,’ where the naiad weeps her emptying urn.”
In the neighborhood of Union and Front Streets, “Alderman Plumstead” had a splendid garden on the “Sloping Hill:” it was the admiration of the town. In 1739 the Rev. George Whitefield preached to fifteen thousand people on “Society Hill,” near to the flag-staff near Front and Pine. There was also a place of resort in this vicinity, called “Cherry Garden.” “The Friends’ Meeting-House” was also located here, and “George Wells’s place” was much admired. The Loxley House, which stood back of 177 South Second Street (old number), below Little Dock, and only within a few years torn down, is well known for its historical reminiscences to our readers. Near to the Loxley House there was a peculiar spring of water, called “Bathsheba’s Spring and Bower.” The origin of the name is somewhat curious. “Bathsheba Bowers” was the name of a young lady. She erected a small house near to the best spring of water that was in our city. The house she furnished with books, a table, and a cup, in which she, or any that visited her, drank of the spring. Some people gave it the name of “Bathsheba’s Bower,” and the spring long afterwards bore the name of “Bathsheba’s Spring.”