Perot Post Office

Description:

• Bermuda's first stamp was printed in this landmark building. Beloved by collectors from all over the world, the stamps -- signed by William Bennett Perot, Bermuda's first postmaster -- are priceless. It's said that Perot and his friend J. B. Heyl, who ran an apothecary, conceived the first postage stamp to protect the post office from cheaters. People used to stop off at the post office and leave letters, but not enough pennies to send them. The postage stamps were printed in black or carmine.

  Philatelists can purchase contemporary Bermuda stamps here. For its 375th anniversary, Bermuda issued a series of stamps honoring its discovery in 1609. One stamp portrays the admiral of the fleet, Sir George Somers, along with Sir Thomas Gates, the captain of the Sea Venture. Another depicts the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, which was on the verge of extinction when Sir George and the survivors of the Bermuda shipwreck finally arrived with supplies late in 1610. A third shows the Sea Venture stranded on the coral reefs of Bermuda. Yet another shows the entire fleet, originally bound for Jamestown, leaving Plymouth, England, on June 2, 1609.

• © Frommer's 2013