Dan's Papers - June 22, 2007 - Ben Franklin And His NF Postal Route

Many people know of Benjamin Franklin, the American original that invented stoves, bi-focals, defined electricity, and thousands of other unique inventions. Some historians refer to him as our country's Leonardo Di Vinci. His face on the one hundred dollar bill makes spending it a little more comforting. Benjamin Franklin was a champion of a viable postal service for the colonies, years before the United States was even an independent country.

Not everyone knows that Franklin worked closely with the crown printing court and official documents via his printing houses. Even during the American Revolution his printing business printed both Royal documents and Continental Congress Documents at the same time. What most people don't know is that in 1755, Benjamin Franklin was on the North Fork, putting down measuring posts from Riverhead to Orient Point, at three-mile intervals so that postage rates for the area could be determined.

At that time, across from where the restaurant Tweeds is today, was the Royal Courthouse, which at that time was the influential governing seat. It was from there the fortyish Ben Franklin started measuring and putting in postal markers to use to determine the rates to charge for sending a letter. This was not for the United States but for the British crown. The American Revolution was some 21 years later in history. So many forget that Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin had cordial relations with the British authorities prior to the Revolution. In fact it was John Adams who defended and won an acquittal for the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.

In a conversation with Edwin Tuccio both a local history buff and owner of Tweeds, Mr. Tuccio proudly explained how he raised the money to replace the missing mile one marker with a duplicate, situated one mile from Tweeds towards Orient. Franklin used a horse driven wagon to measure and lay down the markers. According to Mr. Tuccio, the original markers still exist from mile seven to mile 23 on Route 25. The markers look like three foot tombstones made of limestone that just say Mile 7, Mile 23 and so forth. It is not certain how long this took and exactly where they were successful, and at that time wealthy young Mr. Franklin stayed. What is known is that he had to see and appreciate the same beauty all of us see when we traverse the narrow neck between Orient Point and Greenport. There is no doubt that Benjamin Franklin walked around the port of Greenport to confer with sea captains and travelers about the goings on up and down the coast of the settlements of that time. Soon the French and Indian War would start and change the shape of the relationship between the colonies and the mother country. But for a while, men like Franklin were proud Englishmen living in America. Just imagine the tenor of Franklin's voice as the residents of the then young Greenport greeted the famous publisher of Little Richards Poor Man's Almanac. Perhaps not yet wearing glasses and not yet using a walking cane, hopefully the young and vibrant Franklin did not cause too much havoc. This is just another page in the book of history that shaped this land. Those who live on the North Fork see the beauty that is boundless based on a simple and pure life style.