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Mail Delivery By Boat

October 31, 2011 - Belgrade – This is the story of a mail route on the waters of Great Pond in the lakes region of the Belgrades. The route has run continuously for more than 100 years.

The Belgrades are in the northwestern part of Kennebec County, fourteen miles north of Augusta. Bordering towns are Oakland and Smithfield on the north; Rome and Mount Vernon on the west; Readfield and Manchester on the south; and Sidney on the east. Belgrade was incorporated on February 3, 1796, and land titles originated with charter grants from English kings.

The town has three sections – Belgrade Lakes, North Belgrade, and Belgrade Depot – nestled among a chain of lakes and connecting streams. Because of its natural beauty, bountiful fishing, and proximity to the state capital, it is a popular area for year-round and part-time residents, and tourists as well. The population is around 3,000, and this doubles in the summer.

One of the lakes in the chain is Great Pond, the site of the mail route in this story. Great Pond has about 8,000 acres, with nine islands and 55 miles of shoreline. A stream connects it with Long Pond in Belgrade Lakes Village with a westerly flow. There has been a post office in Belgrade Lakes since 1829. It was first names Belgrade Lakes Mills Post Office, but in 1901 became the Belgrade Lakes Post Office.

The mail route on Great Pond started about 1900, with Captain Bert Curtis and his 35-foot steamboat. The history of the route mail carriers includes seven men up to Harold Webster. Harold’s son, David, got the contract in 1942. When David entered the service during World War II, his brother, John, filled in. David gave up the mail contract when he sold the Great Pond Marina in 1991. The present delivery person is Norm Shaw.

The focus for the remainder of this narrative will be on the 49 years of David Webster’s stewardship of the mail route. I knew him well, and my two oldest sons, now in their 50s, worked for him during the summers at the marina. Three of my progeny had, to varying degrees, involvement in the mail delivery.

When Dave Webster took over there were 26 stops. The route grew to 106 stops, a product of growth through the continued building of both summer and year-round homes. Some were palatial, some quite modest, but all were call “camps.” Delivery at those camps might involve threading a path between owners’ boats, barking dogs, and sometimes difficult weather conditions. Stops also included boys’ and girls’ camps. This meant news from home and “care packages.” Outgoing mail was also picked up on the route.

It was a four-month season, and during David Webster’s tenure, he missed only two delivery days. On one, he got caught in a hurricane and was forced to head for home. On the other, a hurricane warning did the trick. The famous postal code “the mail must go through” did not anticipate mail delivery on water routes during hurricanes.

With the financial struggles the U.S. Postal Service has experienced in the last several years, one has to wonder how long this venerable delivery service can continue. If it were to be terminated, an era will have ended to the disappointment of many. The passengers have enjoyed the scenic ride for years, and in more recent years, touring the lake where playwright Ernest Thompson spent his summers and wrote “On Golden Pond,” about an aging couple spending Maine summers on Great Pond. True, the movie was filmed on Square Lake in New Hampshire, but Dave Webster delivered the mail on Great Pond.

Clarence W. Bennett, Discover Maine, October 2011


Lakes: Great Pond
Regions: Belgrade


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