The old leather man

by Dan W. Deluca

"In 1883, wearing a 60-pound suit sewn from leather boot-tops, a wanderer known only as the Leather Man began to walk a never-changing 365-mile loop between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers which he would complete every 34 days for almost 6 years. His circuit took him through at least 41 towns in southwestern Connecticut and southeastern New York, sleeping in caves, accepting food from towns people, and speaking at times only in grunts and gestures along the way. What remains of the mysterious Leather Man today are the news clippings and photographs taken by the first-hand witnesses of this captivating individual. The Old Leather Man gathers the best of the early newspaper accounts of the Leather Man and includes time tables, maps of his route, historic photographs of his shelters and some houses he was known to stop at along his way, and photographs of the Leather Man himself. This history tracks the footsteps of the Leather Man and unravels the myths surrounding the man who made Con