Old Roebuck Road: Difference between revisions

''[[United States Genealogy|United State[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go t[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[United States Migration Internal|Migratio[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go t[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[US Migration Trails and Roads|Trails and Road[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.pn[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Massachusetts|Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.pn[[Category:Migration routes]]]'' [[{{PAGENAME}}]]  

The '''Old Roebuck Road''' started as an ancient American Indian footpath connecting [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay Massachusetts Ba[[Category:Migration routes]] to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narragansett_Bay Narragansett Ba[[Category:Migration routes]]. In colonial days Europeans expanded that trail into a wagon road going 43 miles (69 kilometers) from '''[[Boston, Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]]''' to '''[[Providence, Rhode Island]]'''.<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; Providence was established in 1636. The Old Roebuck Road attracted European settlers along its route in Massachusetts and Rhode Island because it provided access to markets for settler goods and services.  

'''Overlapping routes'''. Part of the '''Old Roebuck Road''' followed the exact same route as a part of the '''[[Bay Road]]''' (to New Bedford) at least as far as Norwood. Moreover, the whole of the Old Roebuck Road also became a leg on the '''''lower [[Boston Post Road]]&nbsp;''''' between Boston and New York City. In the 1760s and 1770s it was also part of the '''''[[King's Highwa[[Category:Migration routes]]]&nbsp;''''' from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Bosto[[Category:Migration routes]]] to [[New York City New York genealogy|New York Cit[[Category:Migration routes]]] and all the way south to [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charlesto[[Category:Migration routes]]], 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 usually were established near 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 onlin[[Category:Migration routes]].</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>  

'''Cobb's Tavern'''. The history of Cobb's Tavern reflects on the history of the Old Roebuck Road. Cobb's Tavern is about half way between Boston and Providence, about a day's stagecoach travel from each. The land which eventually held the Cobb's Tavern in Easton was first purchased in 1725 by the Hixon brothers. Later, Elizah Fisher purchased the land in 1797. Fisher operated a tavern there. He sold out, and Jonathan Cobb significantly expanded the tavern as traffic along the Old Roebuck Road improved about 1800. In 1819 he was appointed postmaster, and the role of the building as post office continued until at least 1895.<ref>[http://www.risingstarlodge.org/history/cobbs_tavern.aspx Cobb's Taver[[Category:Migration routes]] in ''Rising Star Lodge, A.F. and A.M.'' (accessed 16 October 2014).</ref>  

Settlers who traveled the '''Old Roebuck Road''' from '''[[Boston, Massachusetts|Bosto[[Category:Migration routes]]]''' to '''[[Providence, Rhode Island|Providenc[[Category:Migration routes]]]''' passed through these places:  

[[Suffolk County, Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]]  

:*[[Dorchester, Massachusetts|Dorcheste[[Category:Migration routes]]]

[[Norfolk County, Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]]  

:*[[Walpole, Massachusetts|Walpol[[Category:Migration routes]]]  

:*[[Plainville, Massachusetts|Plainvill[[Category:Migration routes]]]

[[Bristol County, Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]]  

:*[[Attleboro, Massachusetts|Attlebor[[Category:Migration routes]]]

:*[[Pawtucket, Rhode Island|Pawtucke[[Category:Migration routes]]]  

:*[[Bay Road]] connects [[Boston, Massachusetts|Bosto[[Category:Migration routes]]] (Massachusetts Bay) to [[New Bedford, Massachusetts|New Bedford]] (Buzzards Bay).  

:*[[Coast Path]] follows an ancient Indian path near the shoreline from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Bosto[[Category:Migration routes]]] to [[Plymouth, Massachusetts|Plymouth]].  

:*[[Kennebunk Road]] links [[Boston, Massachusetts|Bosto[[Category:Migration routes]]] along the New England coast to [[Augusta, Main[[Category:Migration routes]]].  

:*[[King's Highwa[[Category:Migration routes]]] also known as the Boston Post Road goes from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Bosto[[Category:Migration routes]]], Massachusetts to New York City, and south to [[Charleston County, South Carolina|Charleston, South Carolin[[Category:Migration routes]]] with extensions on each end. In Massachusetts and Connecticut there were at least three competing routes for the Boston Post Road. Parts were laid out 1650 to 1735; its length remained in heavy use through 1783, and some parts are used to this day.  

:*[[Mohawk or Iroquois Trail]] This trail was established in 1722 from [[Albany, New York|Alban[[Category:Migration routes]]] to [[Utica, New York|Utic[[Category:Migration routes]]] to [[Rome, New York|Rom[[Category:Migration routes]]] to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Oswego Fort Osweg[[Category:Migration routes]] on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Ontario Lake Ontari[[Category:Migration routes]]. The [[Boston, Massachusetts|Bosto[[Category:Migration routes]]] to Albany side of that route probably preceded the Albany to Oswego route by many years.  

:*[[Old Connecticut Path]] a pre-historic Indian path from [[Boston, Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]] to the Connecticut River Valley at [[Springfield, Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]] and south to [[Hartford, Connecticu[[Category:Migration routes]]].

:*[[Pequot Path]] which linked Providence to Westerly. From Westerly the extension went to New Haven, and on to New York and eventually to Charleston as part of the lower [[Boston Post Road]] or [[King's Highwa[[Category:Migration routes]]].

*[http://www.americanancestors.org/about/ New England Historic Genealogical Societ[[Category:Migration routes]]

[[Category:US_Migration_Trails_and_Road[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Category:Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Category:Migration_Route[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Category:Suffolk_County,_Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Category:Norfolk_County,_Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Category:Bristol_County,_Massachusett[[Category:Migration routes]]] [[Category:Providence_County,_Rhode_Island]]