Neither snow nor rain nor water

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, April 13th. Thanks for joining us today! I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Mr. Postman!

He’s delivered mail in as many ways as this tune’s been covered. Just like the Marvelettes, the Beatles, and the Carpenters, the Postal Service has gone from horseback riders to trains to planes and typically ending with a Jeep with the steering column on the right.

REICHARD: WORLD Senior Correspondent Myrna Brown takes us to a small town in southern Alabama where people rely on another mode of transportation to get their mail.

MYRNA BROWN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Reid Cole is a man of few words. He’s loading a tub of sorted newspapers, magazines and letters into a white pick up. His personal truck, not the usual white, U.S. Postal Service vehicle.

After a quick five mile drive, Cole unloads, then reloads his tub of sorted mail onto another vehicle, a golf cart.

REID TO MYRNA: Ready? Ready! [Starts golf cart]

As we make our way down a steep hill, we approach a 14-foot aluminum jon boat, docked on the Magnolia River. Cole isn’t just a mail carrier. He’s a water mail carrier in Magnolia Springs, Alabama, a small town nine miles from the beaches of the Alabama Gulf Coast. Cole began delivering mail this way about three years ago.

[SQUEAKING MAILBOXES]

The opening and closing of one creaky mailbox after the other sounds a lot like a chorus of squeaky high notes, keeping tempo with the constant slap of water against the boat’s hull and the steady sound of the boat’s motor.

REID: Usually it’s box after box. Sometimes one pier might have two or three boxes on it.

Cole also delivers mail to residents living on nearby Weeks Bay and the Fish River. That’s where he says he gets to really savor the pristine beauty of God’s creation.

REID: There’s a couple of good little stretches where it’s just running and you’re on top of the water and you will go a couple of miles between boxes, but there’s only a couple of those. Yeah it’s peaceful out there.

Peaceful, but never dull.

REID: I was on my way from Magnolia River to Fish River and I noticed a deer, a buck, swimming from one side of the bay to the other, being chased by a dog. And so I stopped and videotaped it. And what happened? Did he make it across the river? Oh yeah, he was fine. He was outrunning the dog. I knew it was a unique experience.

Definitely a one-of-a-kind experience! According to the U.S. Postal Service, Magnolia Springs, population 811, has the only full-time water delivery mail service in the country.

Before 1916, residents who lived along the tree-lined riverside, had to either row up river or travel on horseback to get to the post office. But for the last 106 years mail has been delivered by boat in this coastal community. And there’s been a long line of water mail carriers. Claude Underwood was number seven.

[WIND CHIMES]

Ken Underwood is Claude’s 80-year-old son. Sitting underneath the wind chimes on his front porch, Ken tells stories about his father, Claude’s water mail carrier days.

KEN UNDERWOOD: In the summertime, we had chores to do, rake the yard, mow the grass and this kind of stuff. And then on days when you couldn’t figure out what you wanted to do that day, you’d go ride with dad on the mailboat. And what a cool thing that was.

A WWII veteran, Claude Underwood was 30 years old when he began delivering the mail by water to the 68 families living along the river at that time. A job he treasured from 1944 until 1959.

KEN UNDERWOOD: I just happened to have a picture or two…

Ken Underwood proudly pulls out old newspaper articles and black and white photographs of his father handing packets of letters to customers, waving at children watching him speed by on the river and posing next to his beloved boat, nicknamed Jeannetta. After 15 years of delivering mail up and down the river, Underwood says only one thing kept his father from doing the job he loved.

KEN UNDERWOOD: Hurricane. Yeah. Hurricane. One of these pictures here,, this one right here, these trees leaning. And I’m thinking this must have been some time after a hurricane… but I think that’s the only thing.

Claude Underwood died in 1995 at the age of 80—never imagining that his great nephew would follow in his footsteps.

KEN UNDERWOOD: I think he would just be thrilled. Reid’s dad and I are first cousins. And Reid’s grandmother and my dad were brother and sister.

Back on the river, Reid Cole is nearing the end of his 31-mile route. He stands slightly to hand the mail to one of his 170 customers.

HOMEOWNER TO COLE: How’s it going? Good. You? Thank you

Todd and Rivers Puckett have raised their four children on the river. While land delivery is an option, having a water mail carrier is tradition and no one seems to want to give it up.

TODD PUCKETT: I think there would probably be a lot of people upset. And I think it would be a pretty hard fight. I think people take it that seriously. It’s that important to them. It’s our lifestyle.

Reporting for WORLD, in Magnolia Springs, Alabama, I’m Myrna Brown

REICHARD: If you want to see Reid Cole delivering mail by water, check out WORLD Watch, our video news program for students. Myrna created a companion piece for it. Just go to worldwatch.news/myrna. We’ll post that link in today’s transcript.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.