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=== History of the Minsi Path === | === History of the Minsi Path === | ||
The Minsi Path was named after the Minsi Indians. | The '''Minsi Path''', also known in part as the '''''Bethlehem Pike''''', was named after the Minsi Indians. It ran about Like many other North American trails, its origin extends back into antiquity as a path used by Native Americans for thousands of years. The trail extends from the Blue Mountains in Pennsylvania to land in the south. <br> It was used by early European settlers as their population expanded through Pennsylvania. <br> Today the trail is known as Bethlehem Pike. Bethlehem Pike is a historic 42.21 mi (67.93 km) long road in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, connecting Philadelphia and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It began as a Native American path called the Minsi Trail which evolved into a colonial highway called the King's Road in the 1760s. Most of the route later became part of U.S. Route 309, now Pennsylvania Route 309.<ref>Wikipedia - Bethlehem Pike[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem_Pike]</ref> | ||
This was an important route from New England and New York to the southern United States. An alternate route to the southern United States was the [[King's Highway]]. | This was an important route from New England and New York to the southern United States. An alternate route to the southern United States was the [[King's Highway]]. | ||
The '''Minsi Path''' was an ancient American Indian trail running about 187 miles (301 kilometers) from '''[[Kingston, New York]]''' to '''[[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]'''.<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.'' (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 850-51. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50140092 WorldCat entry]; {{FHL|1049485|item|disp=FHL Book 973 D27e 2002}}.</ref> Pioneers used this route to go from New England and New York to Pennsylvania, and vise versa. The '''''Minsi Path ''''' was a pioneer connection from the [[Ulster and Delaware Turnpike]] in New York to the [[Great Valley Road]] in Pennsylvania. | |||
This is one of the main routes connecting New England and New York to Pennsylvania and the southern United States. An alternate route to the southern United States was the [[King's Highway]]. | |||
'''Pre-turnpike era.''' New England residents gradually began moving into central New York on foot or horseback by 1753. In 1790 the opening of the Military Tract in modern Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga, and Seneca counties began attracting Revolutionary War veterans, their families, and other New Englanders and Pennsylvanians into central New York. In 1792 a mail route (and probably a stage line) was established on the Catskill Road.<ref>Morgan, 2-3.</ref> The Minsi Path route was already a pioneer pathway, and probably was a wagon road before that mail service was started just to the north. | |||
'''Stages.''' Stagecoaches generally began regular transport of mail and passengers on long trips in the American colonies in the 1760s.<ref>Frederic J. Wood, "The Twelfth Massachusetts Turnpike" in ''The Turnpikes of New England and the Evolution of the Same Through England, Virginia, and Maryland'' (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1919), 26-27. [https://archive.org/stream/turnpikesofnewen00woodrich#page/79/mode/1up Internet Archive version online].</ref> They made regular trips between '''''stages ''''' or stations where travelers were provided food and rest.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagecoach Stagecoach] in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' (accessed 30 October 2014).</ref> Where available, stagecoaches became a preferred way for settlers to travel to a new home. | |||
'''Toll roads.''' As traffic increased along a roadway American political leaders turned to toll roads (turnpikes) to raise money to improve, clear, and repair their local highways.<ref>Wood, 33-36.</ref> Toll revenue from stagecoaches, drovers, and other travelers was used to maintain the roadbeds and bridges, and, if there was enough left over (rarely happened), to pay a turnpike stockholder dividend. If turnpike revenue decreased too much, the roadway maintenance was typically turned over to the state, and the path was made a free public road. | |||
=== Route === | === Route === | ||