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Nashville History Corner

The History of Mail Hacks in Tennessee

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

Automobiles began carrying mail in Tennessee in 1910, when an automobile began running the mail route from Nashville to Chapel Hill in Marshall County via Nolensville, Triune and other stops.Two years later, automobiles replaced mail hacks from Murfreesboro to Woodbury. In 1913, automobiles replaced mail hacks from Cookeville to Sparta and, in 1917, automobiles began carrying mail from Pulaski to Cornersville.

What were mail hacks? Mail hacks were horse or mule-drawn vehicles either an enclosed carriage, a buggy, or a vehicle specifically built to carry mail, according to the Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative's Tennessee Magazine. These vehicles moved through the countryside at five or six miles per hour, stopping about every two hours to change horses or mules. Passengers could ride mail hacks for a fee. In 1858, it cost $2 to ride in a mail hack from Fayetteville to Shelbyville. In 1888, it cost 50 cents to ride in the mail hack between Clarksville and Mount Carmel in Montgomery County. Of course, there were accidents. In 1906, horses leading a mail hack in Stewart County became frightened and started running. The driver fell out of the hack, leaving two female passengers to fend for themselves. The horses didn’t slow down for a mile or two. Fortunately, the ladies were uninjured.

After railroads came to Tennessee in the 1850s, towns that had rail service would get their mail by train. If you lived in a town not on the railroad, your mail would be unloaded at the nearest train station and delivered to your post office by mail hack. For instance, Lynchburg mail would be unloaded from the train at Shelbyville and delivered by hack from there. Mail hacks were gone in most parts of Tennessee by 1923. An exception was Jamestown in Fentress county which received mail by hack until 1930. The Tennessee Baptist newspaper reported on July 31 that year that “a mail hack with four seats took 13 passengers across the mountain to Jamestown.”

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