In 1883 in Connecticut in the USA a man appeared with startling regularity between 41 towns in a loop that spanned 365 miles. Every 34 days he would appear at the same town. He did this for 6 years before dying on the 20th March 1889. He had first been seen in 1857 and in the earlier parts of his life was reported wandering as far north as Vermont and Canada.
He is known simply as ‘The Leather Man‘
The History of the Leatherman
Newspaper articles described the man as wearing a hand made leather suit ( hence his name) carrying a heavy bag and being seen to sleep in a series of caves on the route which he carefully looked after.
”Sane Except for an Emotional Affliction with a remarkable appetite”
The man and his trail defined him but ultimately killed him. We do not know his name, nor any backstory and so he has become a phantom on a trail that was slowly lost as towns expanded and roads were built in the coming years.
Like himself, the information online is sparse but a superb book ‘The Old Leather Man’ by Dan W Deluca provides a collection of information about him without drawing any conclusions. Its the most honest, unbiased historical account I’ve read in that the author offers few opinions. Only the facts.
I stumbled across his legend when out trail running in Connecticut. I kept seeing trails showing ‘leathermans cave‘ on them in various places, I soon stumbled down a deep Wikipedia hole that left me with a huge desire to ‘go run that loop’.
The Old Leatherman 365 mile continuous Loop
The Old Leatherman Caves
There are so many caves of his scattered throughout the state with so little information in one place that I’ve created a separate blog here to document them all and how to find them.
A Bag A Glove and a Money Bag
A few weeks before the run I was lucky enough to have Connecticut Historical Society Museum pull items of his from their storage archives for me to see in person.
I was rather awestruck to see some of his actual gear up close. What struck me most was the stitching on the mitten , and how you can see how its been fashioned from an old boot.
His bag was made from squares of leather cut offs and when we lifted it in the box was noticeably heavy even though it was empty.
Some of the news cuttings from the time also talk about children leaving pennies out for him that he used to polish and return so it was also wonderful to see his money pouch at the Museum archives.
The Death of the Old Leatherman
The Old Leatherman died on the 20th March 1889 and was buried in Sparta Cemetery Ossinging.
Learn more about the Leatherman
You can read more about my guide to all his caves here and when I followed in his footsteps doing his entire loop here.
Hi, love your blog. I’ve found that most leatherman caves were used by native Americans in the area.The book “Indians of greater New York and the lower Hudson” edited by Clark Wissler can be found in Internet Archives. Page 134 has a mention of a Leatherman’s shelter that I believe could be the shelter at the Greenwich Auduban. There’s a great picture at the back of the book. I hope this could be of use.
Thanks William Ill try and hunt that book down. Ive visited the Aubudan Preserve Cave and its a superb Site.
I recently found out about the Old Leather Man.
Touching story.
It must’ve be tough to be condemned to such a hard life. I agree with others, he may have been to some degree, autistic.
It’s amazing that now over 131 years after his departure that he still has found a place in people’s hearts.
Most of us are forgotten when the last of our generation passes, and many of us are forgotten while we’re here.
But Old Leatherman still lives on in the hearts of many who learn of his story.
Good work by you on this website.
Thankyou Peter and its nice to hear from you. It amazes me to think that news of his death made it as far away as the front page of newspapers in the UK ! Whenever Im in any of the areas i call ‘leatherman country’ I often imagine what it would be like to amble through the countryside wearing 60lbs of leather. I’ve always felt the man had a sense of peace around him too. please keep in touch
I have the location for the Old Leatherman’s Cave in Chester. It is a 40-minute fast hike north of Deep Hollow Road in Cockaponsett State Forest. It’s just east of one of the sections of the old town road that ran between Chester and the Tylerville section of Haddam. The cave is west of the power lines and south of the Route 82 connector from Route 9. On the USGS Deep River 7.5-minute topographic map, it’s located right next to the last T in Forest. It’s close to the source of Deep Hollow Brook, which flows north into Roaring Brook.
It’s a textbook cave for him with a large rock in the center for heating. He carved out a section of softer stone on one side of the cave in the ledge to make a cabinet for himself.
You’re welcome to come over for a hike. I will make some photographs of the cave the next time I’m over there.
this is super useful thanks for reaching out. Im going to drop your description into the blog for now to help remind me and in the next month or two as the weather is better head on out and see if i can find it. If you can respond with some pics anytime that would be amazingly helpful!