Ochopee Post Office: The Smallest in the Country

The Ochopee Post Office is the smallest post office operating in the United States. It is located along US Highway 41, also known as the Tamiami Trail, west of the turn-off to Everglades City. 

The seven-by-eight shed is roughly the size of a walk-in closet and can only support one worker at a time. In fact, shed is the correct word to describe the building. Before being converted into a post office, the building served as an irrigation pipe shed belonging to a tomato farm. In 1953, a fire burned Ochopee’s general store and post office. The shed was quickly converted and has been in use ever since. 

It’s easy to miss if you are not careful. Ochopee has a population of roughly a dozen. We stopped on a beautiful late January afternoon. A person was working in the office when my wife and I swung by.   After the small line cleared, I walked over and asked, “How often do novelty tourists like myself swing by to snap a few photos?”  “Oh honey,” she said with a thick southern drawl, “all the time! We get people every day wanting pictures, stamps, and the postmark.”  I chuckled, thanked her, and politely excused myself, not wanting to take too much of her time.  After snapping a few more pictures, we headed down the road on our way to our campsite in Big Cypress. 

The post office may be tiny, but it serves a large area. The mail shack serves three southern Florida counties.  The main route stretches more than 130 miles.  If you are vacationing in the Everglades, take a few minutes and swing by what is sure to be an albeit random but certainly interesting stop.