Introduction

List of Migration Routes

Internet Resources

Contact Information

Introduction

     Historians generally view the process of westward movement as having its genesis in the spread of settlement away from the Atlantic coast, a process that removed the frontier at places up to two hundred miles inland by the mid-eighteenth century. Despite significant variances in economics and political orientation within the American colonies, the first phase of westward migration exhibited the same trait that permeates American continental expansion during the 18^th and 19^th centuries that being the pursuit of inexpensive land suitable for farming.

    Although conflicts with Indian inhabitants sporadically interrupted early migrations, by the first decades of the 18^th century many colonists had used conveyances such as the Pennsylvania and Cumberland Roads to successfully establish settlements well into the interiors of the middle colonies, and were poised to cross the Appalachian Mountains into the vast interior of the continent.

     In Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, colonists initiated westward migrations that were greatly assisted by two military roads left over from the war: the Braddock Road, which carried migrants from the headwaters of the Potomac River in western Maryland to Pittsburgh; and the Forbes Road, which ran from eastern Pennsylvania to also arrive at Pittsburgh.  Not surprisingly, Pittsburgh became the launching point from which thousands of settlers migrated farther west down the Ohio River to settle portions of what are now West Virginia and eastern Ohio.

     Westward migration from the New England colonies occurred in a similar fashion, although other factors besides securing land for export crops were at work. The strict religious requirements imposed by the Puritan-led Congregational Church alienated many New England colonists, and spurred them to move west in pursuit of religious moderation. Environmental conditions were also an important consideration, as the rocky soil of tidewater New England was poorly suited for farming. Beginning in 1636 with the Reverend Thomas Hooker and his followers, New Englanders moved into the lush Connecticut River Valley via the Old Connecticut Path and spread out into other fertile regions of New England.  Indian resistance to colonial encroachment in New England was fierce, but by 1676 most native resistance was eliminated thereby opening the interior of New England to migrant farmers.  By 1750 New Englanders had reached west to Albany, New York through the widening of the old Mohawk Trail that ran from Boston through Deerfield, Massachusetts.

     Settlement and migration patterns in New England differed in the middle colonies of New York and Pennsylvania. While the desire for land was no less fierce, powerful Indian groups managed to blunt much of the early westward flow of American colonists. The powerful Iroquois nations, who inhabited the rich lands from the Mohawk River in northeastern New York to the upper Allegheny watershed in northwestern Pennsylvania, checked colonial expansion into their territory by maintaining a system of satellite tribes who occupied the border region between the Iroquois and the colonials.  All land sales or political treaties between these dependent peoples and the Americans required Iroquois approval. This system worked remarkably well until the mid-eighteenth century, when increasing pressure for land in south-central Pennsylvania forced some of the aforementioned satellite tribes, such as the Lenapes and Shawnees, to migrate across the Appalachian Mountains into eastern Ohio.  A flood of colonial migrants, led by fur traders and land speculators, used the Iroquois Trail to follow on the heels of these retreating Native peoples.

Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/westward-migration

List of routes

Generally these routes are defined as having their terminus in present day Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

The LINKS in the following list will take you to either our web page or another identified resource with more information about that migration route.  

*  = denotes link to a “Road Trip” page

NAME

FROM / TO

COMMENTS

Albany Post Road

New York City / Albany, NY

Follows US Route 9 along the east side of the Hudson River.

Albany and Schenectady Turnpike

Albany, NY / Schenectady, NY

Eastern portion of the Mohawk Turnpike

Bank Road

Baltimore, MD / Cumberland, MD

Built by state funds in 1820 to link existing unimproved roads with the National Road.

Bethlehem Pike

Philadelphia, PA / Bethlehem, PA

This historic 41 mile road began as a Native American path called the Minsi Trail which evolved into a colonial highway called the King's Road in the 1760s.

Boston Post Road

Boston, MA / New York, NY

A segment of the King’s Highway from MA to SC. Essentially a system of post roads containing some of the first major highways in the U.S. The Upper Post Road was originally called the Pequot Path. 

Braddock’s Road*

Cumberland, MD / Pittsburgh, PA

A 1752 wagon road to the Youghiogheny River in western Pennsylvania.  In 1755 it was improved and extended to the Monongahela River by British General Edward Braddock.

Burd’s Road

Carlisle, PA / Raystown, PA

Surveyed in 1755 and widened in 1759 it became an important segment of the Forbes Road and the later Pennsylvania Road.

Canada Road

Susquehanna River Valley, PA / Ontario, Canada

A migration trail to Ontario, Canada after the King opened up settlement in this area in 1800.

Catskill Road

Catskill, NY / Unadilla (Wattle’s Ferry), NY

Original and eastern segment of the Catskill Turnpike.

Catskill Turnpike*

Catskill, NY / Ithaca, NY

The 165-mile-long route completed 1806  was of great importance in connecting New England with the Great Lakes in the Midwest. aka. Catskill Road, Susquehanna Turnpike

Centre Turnpike

Reading, PA / Sunbury, PA

completed around 1814 this route was75 miles in length. aka Reading-Sunbury Road,

Culbertson’s Path

Allenwood, PA / Williamsport, PA

a Native-American trail in north central Pennsylvania, which connected the Great Island Path with the Sheshequin Path. The southeastern terminus was on the West Branch Susquehanna River.  The northwestern end was north of the city of Williamsport, PA.

Esopus Turnpike

Kingston, NY / Bainbridge, NY

see Jericho Turnpike

Forbes Road*

Bedford (Raystown), PA / Pittsburgh, PA

Original western section of the Pennsylvania Road, aka. Glade Road

Gist’s Trace*

Cumberland, MD / Brownsville, PA

Sixty miles in length, this road formed a means of passage between the Potomac and Ohio rivers.

Glade Road

Bedford (Raystown), PA

 / Washington (Catfish), PA

a section of the Raystown Path, then Forbes Road as well as the later Pennsylvania Road

Great Genesee Road*

Utica, NY / Buffalo, NY

Originally part of the Iroquois Indian Trail.

Great Indian Warpath (MD)

Segment of the trails which ran through the Great Appalachian Valley in Maryland. aka Great Indian War and Trading Path, Seneca Trail

Great Indian Warpath (NY)  

Segment of the trails which ran through the Great Appalachian Valley in New York State. aka Great Indian War and Trading Path, Seneca Trail

Great Indian Warpath (PA)

Segment of the trails which ran through the Great Appalachian Valley in Pennsylvania. aka Great Indian War and Trading Path, Seneca Trail

Great Island Path

Sunbury, PA / Lock Haven, PA

a major Native American trail along the right bank of the West Branch Susquehanna River north and then west to the Great Island (near modern day Lock Haven).

Great Path

see Great Trail

Great Shamokin Path

Sunbury, PA / Kittanning, PA

Native-American Trail that connected the Susquehanna River with the Allegheny River,(and the Ohio River downstream of Kittanning). aka Shamokin Path

Great Trail

aka Great Path, a network of footpaths, created by Native-Americans, that connected the Great Lakes to New England and the mid-Atlantic Regions

Greenwood Road

Hartford, CT / Albany, NY

Most likely a western extension of the Old Connecticut Path.   See our image gallery for Billington’s map of “Principle Routes to the West 1795-1812”

Iroquois Trail

Albany, NY /  Fort Niagara

aka. Mohawk Turnpike

Jericho Turnpike

Rhinecliff, NY / Bainbridge, NY

the portion of the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike  constructed after 1800 to connect the Hudson Valley with the Susquehanna River.

King’s Highway (ME)

Kittery, ME / Calais, ME

The first section was built 1653 in order to connect Kittery and York to Boston. The road was soon extended to Portland. Over the next century, the route was expanded and upgraded to a military road in 1761.

King’s Road

Philadelphia, PA / Bethlehem, PA

see Bethlehem Pike

Kittanning Path

Frankstown, PA / Kittanning, PA

a major east-west Native American trail in western Pennsylvania used during the 18th century

Minsi Trail

See Bethlehem Pike

Mohawk Trail*

Boston, MA / Albany, NY

Began use as an improved path in 1753.  It followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range into the Hudson River Valley of New York State. aka Rice Road.

Mohawk Turnpike*

Albany, NY / Utica, NY

Follows Iroquois Trail and joins with Great Genesee Trail

Nemacolin's Path

Cumberland, MD / Brownsville, PA

see Gist’s Trace

Old Connecticut Path

Cambridge, MA / Hartford, CT

In the 1630’s colonists began using this Native-American Trail which extended westward to the Connecticut River.

Ontario & Genesee Turnpike

Canandaigua, NY / Buffalo, NY

The western extension of the Great Genesee Road.

Pennsylvania Road*

Harrisburg, PA / Pittsburgh, PA

Built between 1785-1818 followed the Forbes Road

Pequot Path

Providence, RI / New London, CT

A Native American trail that traversed south and westward to the lands of the Pequots.  It was the earliest traveled highway used by the English settlers of Rhode Island.

Philadelphia - Lancaster Turnpike

Philadelphia, PA / Susquehanna River at Columbia, PA

Originally a segment of the “Great Wagon Road”.  The 62 mile improved turnpike road opened in 1795 as the first long-distance, paved road built in the United States according to engineered plans and specifications.

Raystown Path*

Harrisburg, PA / Pittsburgh, PA

a Native-American trail that became a part of the Pennsylvania Road

Reading-Sunbury Road

Reading, PA / Sunbury, PA

see Centre Turnpike

Rice Road

see Mohawk Trail

Salisbury Turnpike

Salisbury, CT / Kingston, NY

aka Ulster and Salisbury Turnpike was created from the Native-American Sepasco Trail then became the eastern section of the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike,

Seneca Road

Utica, NY / Buffalo, NY

aka. Seneca Trail, A major part of the Great Genesee Road.

Seneca Trail

see Seneca Road

Seneca Turnpike

Utica, NY / Canandaigua, NY

An improved portion of the Great Genesee Road

Sepasco Trail

Hudson River near Rhineback, NY / Sepasco Lake, Duchess Co., NY

Named for the Native-American Sepasco people this trail ran eastward roughly following current day Route 308.  It was used by European settlers as early as 1685. Later became a segment of the Salisbury Turnpike.

Shamokin Path

see Great Shamokin Path

Sheshequin Path

Williamsport, PA /

Ulster Twp., Bradford Co., PA

This Native American trail that was a shortcut between the west and north branches of the Susquehanna River and was used by early settlers. 

Susquehanna Turnpike

see Catskill Turnpike

Ulster and Delaware Turnpike

Salisbury, CT / Bainbridge, NY

aka Jericho Turnpike; Esopus Turnpike

Ulster and Salisbury Turnpike

Salisbury, Ct / Kingston, NY

see Salisbury Turnpike

 Resources

The Google search engine

 button  and following web

sites    may     provide    you

with additional information

to assist with your research

about   this   U. S.   State. 

General Resources

·         American Migration Patterns 

·         Ancestry.com - Message Boards - Migration 

·         Historical American Migration & Settlement Patterns

·         MIGRATIONS LINKS

·         Trails West 

·         GENTREK - Migration Routes

·         Historic trails and roads in the U. S. - Wikipedia

• Frontier Trails - A Brief History 

·        Genealogy Professional Familyworks American Migration

• Migrations.org 

·        Roots & Routes 

·        Brethren Life: Migrations

·        Early Migration Routes

·        Native American trails in the U. S. - Wikipedia

Topic Specific Resources

·         From Trail to Railway Through the Appalachians: Through the Appalachians, by Albert Perry Brigham, Pub. 1907, 188 pages

·        Migration Trails In Early Pennsylvania

• Old Paths and Legends of New England, by Katharine Mixer Abbott, 1908, 484 pages

Contact Information

Email

Snail mail:

Fred
889 Dante Ct.
Mantua, NJ 08051

USA

Email

Pony Express:

Tom
27 Christopher Dr.
Burton, NB E2V3H4
Canada