Post house (historical building)

A post house, posthouse, or posting house was a house or inn where horses were kept and could be rented or changed out. Postriders could also be hired to take travellers by carriage or coach and delivered mail and packages on a route, meeting up at various places according to a schedule. Routes included post roads. A postmaster was an individual from whom horses and/or riders known as postilions or "post-boys" who might help a coachman drive coaches could be hired. A postilion might also travel on a coach to take back his employer's horses. The postmaster would reside in the post house.

This article is about the building used in the past for mail and passenger services. For the mail delivery centre, see Post office.
See also: Stage station

Post houses functioned as the Post offices of their day as national mail services came later.

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