Littlest house on the prairie
One of the most remote areas of Florida clings to civilization by a thread. At the southwest corner of the Big Cypress National Preserve, in the middle of Collier County, a one-room building stands alone on the side of the Tamiami Trail. An American flag flutters in the hot breeze that rolls through the Everglades, shading a small white shack with a metal awning, a historical plaque, and a couple of blue mailboxes. Once a tool shed, the country’s smallest post office, or perhaps America’s largest mailbox, serves the unincorporated community of Ochopee, a town whose human population is outnumbered by alligators.
Looking out from the post office, saw-grass prairies and marshy wetlands extend in every direction as far as the eye can see; it’s no secret that Ochopee’s roots are steeped in agriculture. In the late 1920s, entrepreneur James Gaunt bought 250 of these untamed acres lying along the newly paved Tamiami Trail for tomato farming. He, his family, and his employees lived in army surplus tents during the first months of his operation, fighting daily battles against the intense heat and pesky insects of the Everglades. A permanent settlement was soon built, and as Gaunt’s enterprise continued to grow, a post office was built into his newly constructed company store.
Info
Address 38000 Tamiami Trail E, Ochopee, FL 34141 | Hours Mon–Fri 8am–10am, noon–4pm, Sat 10am–11:30am| Tip Check out the old Monroe Station (50910 Tamiami Trail E), a former roadside stop for weary travelers in the 1920s, at the junction of Tamiami Trail and Loop Rd. The old wooden building is dilapidated and completely boarded up, but still standing after weathering multiple hurricanes.
The post office at Gaunt’s farm held firm in Ochopee until 1953, when a blaze that started in the boardinghouse spread and burned the post office, among other structures, to the ground. Fortunately, the postmaster had the wherewithal to salvage most of the documents inside. Unfortunately, when the mail arrived the next day, there was no place to put it. The postmaster improvised and decided to use the small shed that housed irrigation equipment as a makeshift depot. For 60 years and counting, the tiny eight by seven-foot shack has remained Ochopee’s post office.
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