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Bay Road: Difference between revisions
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''[[United States|United States]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go to]] [[United States Migration Internal|Migration]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go to]] [[US Migration Trails and Roads|Trails and Roads]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Massachusetts|Massachusetts]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]'' [[{{PAGENAME}}]] | ''[[United States|United States]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go to]] [[United States Migration Internal|Migration]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go to]] [[US Migration Trails and Roads|Trails and Roads]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Massachusetts|Massachusetts]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]'' [[{{PAGENAME}}]] | ||
Did an ancestor travel the '''Bay Road''' of Massachusetts? Learn about this settler migration route, its transportation history, and find related genealogy sources.<br><br>[[Image:{{BayRdmap}}]]__TOC__ | Did an ancestor travel the '''Bay Road''' of Massachusetts? Learn about this settler migration route, its transportation history, and find related genealogy sources.<br><br>[[Image:{{BayRdmap}}]]__TOC__ | ||
=== History === | === History === | ||
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The '''Bay Road''' followed an old Indian trail about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay Massachusetts Bay] to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzards_Bay Buzzard's Bay]. It went from [[Boston, Massachusetts|'''Boston''']] to [[New Bedford, Massachusetts|'''New Bedford''']] in [[Massachusetts]].<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America'', 9th ed. (Logan, Utah: Everton Pub., 1999), pages 531 and M-48. {{WorldCat|48077118|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}; {{FHL|740321|item|disp=FHL Book 973 D27e 1999}}.</ref> Boston was founded in 1630; New Bedford was established in 1652.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford,_Massachusetts New Bedford, Massachusetts] in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 30 October 2014).</ref> The Bay Road attracted European settlers along its route because it provided access to markets for settler goods and services. | The '''Bay Road''' followed an old Indian trail about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay Massachusetts Bay] to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzards_Bay Buzzard's Bay]. It went from [[Boston, Massachusetts|'''Boston''']] to [[New Bedford, Massachusetts|'''New Bedford''']] in [[Massachusetts]].<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America'', 9th ed. (Logan, Utah: Everton Pub., 1999), pages 531 and M-48. {{WorldCat|48077118|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}; {{FHL|740321|item|disp=FHL Book 973 D27e 1999}}.</ref> Boston was founded in 1630; New Bedford was established in 1652.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford,_Massachusetts New Bedford, Massachusetts] in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 30 October 2014).</ref> The Bay Road attracted European settlers along its route because it provided access to markets for settler goods and services. | ||
'''Overlapping routes'''. Part of the '''Bay Road''' followed the exact same route as a part of the '''''[[Old Roebuck Road]] ''''' at least as far as Norwood. Moreover, that small portion of the Bay Road was also used as part of one of several main routes of the '''''lower [[Boston Post Road]] ''''' from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] to [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]] to [[New York City New York genealogy|New York City]]. In the 1760s and 1770s that same small part of the '''Bay Road''' was also part of the '''''[[King's Highway]] ''''' from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] to [[New York City New York genealogy|New York City]] and all the way south to [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], South Carolina. | '''Overlapping routes'''. Part of the '''Bay Road''' followed the exact same route as a part of the '''''[[Old Roebuck Road]] ''''' at least as far as Norwood. Moreover, that small portion of the Bay Road was also used as part of one of several main routes of the '''''lower [[Boston Post Road]] ''''' from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] to [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]] to [[New York City New York genealogy|New York City]]. In the 1760s and 1770s that same small part of the '''Bay Road''' was also part of the '''''[[King's Highway]] ''''' from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] to [[New York City New York genealogy|New York City]] and all the way south to [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], South Carolina. | ||
'''Stagecoach service'''. In the 1760s stagecoaches began to traverse these roads carrying regular mail and passengers. Inns for stagecoach passengers and other travelers often were established about the time of American Revolution. By 1800 an advertisement suggested stage service from Boston to Providence took only ten hours.<ref>Frederic J. Wood, ''The Turnpikes of New England and the Evolution of the Same Through England, Virginia, and Maryland'' (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1919), 86-87. [https://archive.org/details/turnpikesofnewen00woodrich Internet Archive version online].</ref> Nevertheless, travel between colonial towns was more often by sea than it was over land until just before the American Revolution.<ref>Wood, 25.</ref> | |||
'''Toll roads'''. Massachusetts developed a turnpike (toll) system for wagon roads in the early 1800s including most of the route from Boston to New Bedford. For example, the New Bedford and Bridgewater Turnpike charged tolls from 1807 to 1847.<ref>Wood, map between 56 and 57, and 131-32.</ref> Most of these early pathways continue as roads today. Modern freeways usually parallel the older road systems. | |||
'''Decline'''. However, the use of early roads and turnpikes for moving settlers declined with the introduction of railroads. Settlers could travel faster, less expensively, and safer on railroads than on wagon roads. So, as railroads entered an area, the wagon-road traffic in that area declined. Railroad service from Boston to Taunton opened in 1835.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taunton_Branch_Railroad Taunton Branch Railroad] in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' (accessed 30 October 2014).</ref> The first railroad from New Bedford to Taunton was opened in 1840.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford_and_Taunton_Railroad New Bedford and Taunton Railroad] in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' (accessed 30 October 2014).</ref> | |||
=== Route === | === Route === | ||