Fodor's Expert Review Perot Post Office

To some, this rather austere 1840s structure is simply a place to mail a letter, but to stamp collectors the Perot Post Office, named for Hamilton's first postmaster, is a veritable shrine. William Bennett Perot (1791–1871) was certainly a genial fellow: he would meet arriving steamers, collect the incoming mail, stash it in his beaver hat, and then stroll around Hamilton to deliver it, greeting each recipient with a tip of his chapeau. But it was his resourcefulness that made him most famous among philatelists. Tired of individually hand-stamping outgoing letters, Perot began printing stamps in 1848. Of the thousands he produced, only 11 still exist—and several of those are owned by the British royal family. If you'd like to get your hands on one, be prepared to dig deep. In 2005, a Perot-era one-penny stamp sold at auction for a record-breaking $244,000.