Old Connecticut Path

United States Migration Trails and Roads Massachusetts Connecticut Old Connecticut Path

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

Map of the Old Connecticut Path in light green from Boston to Springfield, Massachusetts to Hartford, Connecticut.

History

The Old Connecticut Path was created by Native Americans in antiquity.  It was the first North American trail that led west from settlements on the Atlantic seacoast into the interior of America.

The Path was used by members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as early as 1630. It continued to be used as settlements in Connecticut and other interior locations were settled.

Over the years, settlements like Cambridge, Watertown, Waltham and Weston were established along the path as it winds its way toward South Framingham, Hopkinton, Grafton and westward to Westborough and Woodstock, Connecticut.

Connecting Routes Over time the Old Connecticut Path connected with half a dozen other migration routes:

Boston connections:

• Bay Road connects Boston (Massachusetts Bay) to New Bedford (Buzzards Bay).
• Coast Path follows an ancient Indian path near the shoreline from Boston to Plymouth.
• Kennebunk Road links Boston along the New England coast to Augusta, Maine.
• King's Highway also known as the Boston Post Road goes from Boston, Massachusetts to New York City, and south to Charleston, South Carolina 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 to Utica to Rome to Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario. The Boston to Albany side of that route probably preceded the Albany to Oswego route by many years.
• Old Roebuck Road goes from Boston to Providence, Rhode Island (Narragansett Bay).

Springfield connections:

• Catskill Road (or Catskill Turnpike; also known aa the Ancram Turnpike) from Springfield, Massachusetts to Ancram, New York to Catskill, New York to Unadilla, New York (formerly Wattle's Ferry) on the Susquehanna River.

Hartford connections

• Greenwood Road from Hartford, Connecticut to North Canaan, Connecticut to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Albany, New York.

Settler Records

Boston was founded in 1630 by Puritan immigrants from England. Springfield and Hartford on the Connecticut River were founded in 1636 by 100 Puritans colonists. The Indian footpath between these places and Boston attracted settlers who would be able to more easily get access to the markets. Many of the earliest settlers along the Old Connecticut Path would have been from Boston, Massachusetts. Look at the earliest deeds, tax records, and histories of towns along the Old Connecticut Path to learn the names of the first settlers. If you already know the name of a settler near the Old Connecticut 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). At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 974 W2a.

• New England Historic Genealogical Society

External links

• Boston Post Road in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 17 October 2014).