Pequot Path: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:28, 20 October 2014

United States Migration Trails and Roads Rhode Island Pequot Path

Did an ancestor travel the Pequot Path of Rhode Island? Learn about this settler migration route, its transportation history, and find related genealogy sources.

The Pequot Path is the dashed-purple route from Providence, Rhode Island to New London, Connecticut. In the 1670s it became a part of the lower fork of the Boston Post Road (aka King's Highway).

History[edit | edit source]

The Pequot Path ran about 51 miles (83 kilometers) near the ocean shore from Providence to Westerly, Rhode Island. At least one authority asserts the route also included the island community of Newport.^[1] All seem to agree it was certainly extended into central Connecticut, but the earliest name of the trail in Connecticut is unclear (before it was called the Boston Post Road). This route was part of an American Indian trail that was widened by European colonists into a wagon road from Providence to Westerly in far southwest Rhode Island.^[2] This path became part of a chain of shorter roads that formed the lower fork of the Boston Post Road (Boston-New York) with connecting legs from Boston to Providence (Old Roebuck Road) to Westerly (Pequot Path) to New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. The long route from Boston to New York to Charleston, South Carolina was also known as the King's Highway from the 1750s to about 1780.

Route[edit | edit source]

The Pequot Path connected Providence to Westerly in Rhode Island passing through the following places:

Providence County, Rhode Island

Kent County, Rhode Island

Washington County, Rhode Island

External links[edit | edit source]

On the Trail of Benjamin Franklin: The Lower Boston Post Road (accessed 17 October 2014).
Boston Post Road in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 17 October 2014).
William Davis Miller, Ancient Paths to Pequot (Providence: E.L. Freeman, 1936). Hathi Trust Digital Library edition.

Sources[edit | edit source]

↑ On the Trail of Benjamin Franklin: The Lower Boston Post Road (accessed 20 October 2014).
↑ Frederic J. Wood, The Turnpikes of New England and the Evolution of the Same Through England, Virginia, and Maryland (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1919), 25. Internet Archive version online.

[1] On the Trail of Benjamin Franklin: The Lower Boston Post Road (accessed 20 October 2014).

[2] Frederic J. Wood, The Turnpikes of New England and the Evolution of the Same Through England, Virginia, and Maryland (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1919), 25. Internet Archive version online.

[1]

[2]

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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]] [[Rhode Island|Rhode Island]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]'' [[{{PAGENAME}}]]
-| link1=[[United States Genealogy|United States]]
-| link2=[[United States Migration Internal|Migration]]
-| link3=[[US_Migration_Trails_and_Roads|Migration Trails and Roads]]
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-| link5=[[Pequot Path|Pequot Path]]
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+Did an ancestor travel the '''Pequot Path''' of Rhode Island? Learn about this settler migration route, its transportation history, and find related genealogy sources.<br><br>[[Image:{{PequotPathmap}}]]__TOC__
-Did an ancestor travel the '''Pequot Path''' of Rhode Island and Connecticut? Learn about this settler migration route, its transportation history, and find related genealogy sources.<br><br>[[Image:{{PequotPathmap}}]]__TOC__
 === History  ===
-The '''Pequot Path''' ran about 69 miles (111 kilometers) near the mainland ocean shore from '''[[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence, Rhode Island]]''' to '''[[New London, Connecticut|New London, Connecticut]]''' (formerly Pequitt).<ref>William Davis Miller, ''Ancient Paths to Pequot'' (Providence: E.L. Freeman, 1936), 8. [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015070269447;view=1up;seq=7 Hathi Trust Digital Library edition].</ref> At least one authority asserts the route also included the island community of Newport on Rhode Island.<ref>[http://qb.mindhenge.org/PostRoad.html On the Trail of Benjamin Franklin: The Lower Boston Post Road] (accessed 20 October 2014).</ref> All seem to agree the route was certainly extended into central Connecticut, but the earliest name of the trail in Connecticut beyond New London is unclear (before it was called the Boston Post Road). The Pequot Path route was part of the American Indian foot trails that were widened by European colonists into horse paths, and then wagon roads<ref>Frederic J. Wood, ''The Turnpikes of New England and the Evolution of the Same Through England, Virginia, and Maryland'' (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1919), 25. [https://archive.org/details/turnpikesofnewen00woodrich Internet Archive version online].</ref>
+The '''Pequot Path''' ran about 51 miles (83 kilometers) near the ocean shore from Providence to Westerly, Rhode Island. At least one authority asserts the route also included the island community of Newport.<ref>[http://qb.mindhenge.org/PostRoad.html On the Trail of Benjamin Franklin: The Lower Boston Post Road] (accessed 20 October 2014).</ref> All seem to agree it was certainly extended into central Connecticut, but the earliest name of the trail in Connecticut is unclear (before it was called the Boston Post Road). This route was part of an American Indian trail that was widened by European colonists into a wagon road from Providence to Westerly in far southwest Rhode Island.<ref>Frederic J. Wood, ''The Turnpikes of New England and the Evolution of the Same Through England, Virginia, and Maryland'' (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1919), 25. [https://archive.org/details/turnpikesofnewen00woodrich Internet Archive version online].</ref> This path became part of a chain of shorter roads that formed the '''lower fork of the [[Boston Post Road]]''' (Boston-New York) with connecting legs from Boston to Providence ([[Old Roebuck Road]]) to Westerly (Pequot Path) to New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. The long route from Boston to New York to Charleston, South Carolina was also known as the [[King's Highway]] from the 1750s to about 1780.
-'''Overlapping routes'''. The '''Pequot Path''' also became a leg on the '''''lower [[Boston Post Road]] ''''' between Boston and New York City. In the 1760s and 1770s it 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 usually were established near the time of American Revolution. By 1800 an advertisement suggested stage service from Boston to Providence took only ten hours, but service from there to New York City took the rest of the week.<ref>Wood, 86-87.</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'''. Rhode Island and Connecticut developed turnpike (toll) systems for wagon roads in the early 1800s including most of the route from Providence to New London. The Providence and Pawcatuck Turnpike (opened 1820), and the Hopkinton and Richmond Turnpike (opened 1820) in Rhode Island, and the Groton and Stonington Turnpike (opened 1818) in Connnecticut replaced the Pequot Path which was closer to the shore.<ref>Wood, map between 286 and 287; pages 315-16; map between 330 and 331; and pages 389-91.</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 waned 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. The first railroad from New London to Providence opened in 1839, but did not cause much decline in turnpike traffic. However, the railroad built in 1852 from New London to New Haven, which had previous connections with New York City, signaled the end of the toll roads. The next year, in 1853, the turnpikes from Providence to New London became public (free) roads.<ref>Wood, 391.</ref>
 === Route  ===
-The '''Pequot Path''' connected Providence to New London through the following places:
+The '''Pequot Path''' connected Providence to Westerly in Rhode Island passing through the following places:
 [[Providence County, Rhode Island]]
-:*'''[[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]]'''
+:*[[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]]
 :*[[Cranston, Rhode Island|Cranston]]
@@ Line 38: / Line 23: @@
 [[Washington County, Rhode Island]]
-:*[[North Kingstown, Rhode Island|North Kingstown]]
-:*[[Narragansett, Rhode Island|Narraganset]]
 :*[[South Kingstown, Rhode Island|South Kingstown]]
 :*[[Charlestown, Rhode Island|Charlestown]]
 :*[[Westerly, Rhode Island|Westerly]]
-[[New London County, Connecticut]]
-:*[[Stonington, Connecticut|Stonington]]
-:*[[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]]
-:*'''[[New London, Connecticut|New London]]''' (formerly Pequitt)
-'''Connecting Routes'''. The '''''Pequot Path''''' connected with other migration routes:
-:*The [[Old Roebuck Road]] from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] to [[Providence, Rhode Island]] connects with the Pequot Path on the northest end in Providence.
-:*[[King's Highway]], also known as the '''''[[Boston Post Road]]''''', goes from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], Massachusetts to [https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/New_York_City_New_York_genealogy New York City], and south to [[Charleston County, South Carolina|Charleston, South Carolina]]. The lower Boston Post Road (King's Highway) went from Boston to Providence (aka Old Roebuck Road), from Providence to New London (aka Pequot Path), and extended west from the southwest end of the Pequot Path at New London to New Haven and then to New York.
-'''Modern parallels.''' The modern road that approximately matches the '''''Pequot Path ''''' from Providence, Rhode Island to New London, Connecticut is:
-:*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_1_in_Rhode_Island U.S. Route 1] Providence to Westerly in Rhode Island.
-:*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_1_in_Connecticut U.S. Route 1] Stonington to New London in Connecticut.
-=== Settler Records  ===
-Providence was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams and other English Puritan dissenters. New London was settled by English Puritans in 1646. The Indian footpath between these places and Boston attracted settlers who would be able to more easily get access to markets. Many of the earliest settlers along the Pequot Path would have been from Boston, Massachusetts area, and prior to that from England. Look at the earliest deeds, tax records, and histories of towns along the Pequot Path to learn the names of the first settlers. If you already know the name of a settler near the Pequot Path, you have a good chance of finding his or her genealogy in sources like:
-*Robert Charles Anderson, ''The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633'', 3 vols. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, c1995). {{WorldCat|33083117|item|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}; {{FSC|22717|item|disp=FS Library Book 974 W2a}}.
-*[http://www.americanancestors.org/about/ New England Historic Genealogical Society]
 === External links  ===
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 {{reflist}}
-{{Connecticut|Connecticut}} {{Rhode Island|Rhode Island}}
+{{Rhode Island|Rhode Island}}
-[[Category:US_Migration_Trails_and_Roads]] [[Category:Migration_Routes]] [[Category:Rhode Island Migration Routes]] [[Category:Connecticut Migration Routes]] [[Category:Providence_County,_Rhode_Island]] [[Category:Kent_County,_Rhode_Island]] [[Category:Washington_County,_Rhode_Island]] [[Category:New_London_County,_Connecticut]]
+[[Category:US_Migration_Trails_and_Roads]] [[Category:Migration_Routes]] [[Category:Rhode_Island]]