Old Leatherman Shelter

In the second half of the 19th century, the “Leather Man” was a familiar but enigmatic figure who walked country roads in western Connecticut, eastern New York, the Berkshires of Massachusetts and as far north as Canada. First noted in 1856, he was soon nicknamed the “Leather Man” for his unusual garb. He dressed in a thick coat, trousers, and cap all cut from leather boot tops and stitched together with coarse thongs. His leather shoes had thick wooden soles. He carried his supplies and a French prayer book in a leather sack and walked with a hickory staff. Although he stopped regularly for food at certain farms, he generally shied away from human contact. In short bits of conversation, he responded to French more often than English. Asked his name, he once replied “E-zak” (Isaac). Refusing invitations to sleep indoors, he spent nights in natural rock shelters near a source of firewood and fresh water. At some locations he stored a few dishes and surplus food, and even cultivated vegetables.

Between 1858 and 1889, the Leather Man’s route had evolved into a precise 34 day circuit from the Connecticut River to the Hudson River and back. Avoiding cities, he passed through Haddam, Chester, Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Killingworth, Clinton, Madison, Guilford, Branford, North Haven, Hamden, Woodbridge, Orange, Milford, Stratford, northern Bridgeport, Fairfield, Westport, Norwalk, New Canaan, Wilton, [into New York state], New Fairfield, New Milford, Bridgewater, Roxbury, Waterbury, Watertown, Thomaston, Plymouth, & Harwinton. The route totaled 366 miles (240 in CT: 126 in NY).

Woodbridge siblings Helen and Clarence Newton recorded childhood memories of the Leather Man, noting the odd “sandpaper” sound of his leather clothing as he walked past Clark’s Tavern on Litchfield Turnpike. He was also observed by children at South School on Johnson Road as he headed to his Woodbridge shelter just off Fountain Street. Clarence Newton described it as “one of his caves sheltered by a few overhanging rocks; here he kept some dishes to be used once a month, & two old books written in some foreign tongue.” (p. 4, “The Old Leather Man”). Nearby, you can see the remains of a small cedar log hut built c. 1947 by Woodbridge resident Jacob Stengel for the landowner, Robert R. Chamberlain, in homage to the Leather Man.

While the Leather Man survived the famous “Blizzard of ’88”, he was noticeably weakened by the hardship. In his last years he also suffered from mouth cancer and died on March 20,1889 in his shelter near Mt. Pleasant, New York. He was about 50 years old. His grave was originally marked with a stone identifying him as “Jules Bourglay of Lyons, France” but this name & origin proved fictional. He is now thought to have been French Canadian. His full name and the reason for his ceaseless walking still remain a mystery.

See also: The Old Leather Man by Dan W. DeLuca;

New Haven Independent, Dec. 4, 2011 interview with Dan DeLuca by Marcia Chambers

Documents in the collection of The Amity & Woodbridge Historical Society

The trail QR code project was funded by The Connecticut Recreational Trails Program with a grant from the State of Connecticut administered trough the Department of Energy  and Environmental Protection