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[[Image:Catskill Turnpike.png|645px]]The '''Catskill Turnpike''', also known as the Susquehanna Turnpike, and sometimes identified with the Forbidden Path<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.'' (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 849. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50140092 WorldCat entry]; {{FHL|1049485|item|disp=FHL Book 973 D27e 2002}}.</ref> started on the Hudson River at Catskill in Greene County, skirted the north side of the Catskill Mountains and worked its way westward through upstate New York to Unadilla (formerly Wattle's Ferry) on the Susquehanna River in 1804. From there New York State extended it to Ithaca, and Bath about 1806. Later extensions not normally called the Catskill Turnpike took travelers into Erie County, New York, or followed part of the old Indian Forbidden Path and beyond to Erie, Pennsylvania. Each end of the Catskill Turnpike connected to other important migration pathways. The length of the Catskill Turnpike from Catskill to Bath was about 207 miles (333 km).<ref>Route length in miles and kilometers calculated in MapQuest.com.</ref> For the route from Bath to Buffalo add 102 miles (165 km). From Bath to Erie, Pennsylvania in an additional 169 miles (272 km).<br><br> | [[Image:Catskill Turnpike.png|645px]]The '''Catskill Turnpike''', also known as the Susquehanna Turnpike, and sometimes identified with the Forbidden Path<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.'' (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 849. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50140092 WorldCat entry]; {{FHL|1049485|item|disp=FHL Book 973 D27e 2002}}.</ref> started on the Hudson River at Catskill in Greene County, skirted the north side of the Catskill Mountains and worked its way westward through upstate New York to Unadilla (formerly Wattle's Ferry) on the Susquehanna River in 1804. From there New York State extended it to Ithaca, and Bath about 1806. Later extensions not normally called the Catskill Turnpike took travelers into Erie County, New York, or followed part of the old Indian Forbidden Path and beyond to Erie, Pennsylvania. Each end of the Catskill Turnpike connected to other important migration pathways. The length of the Catskill Turnpike from Catskill to Bath was about 207 miles (333 km).<ref>Route length in miles and kilometers calculated in MapQuest.com.</ref> For the route from Bath to Buffalo add 102 miles (165 km). From Bath to Erie, Pennsylvania in an additional 169 miles (272 km).<br><br> | ||
=== Background History | === Background History === | ||
The '''Catskill Turnpike''' was an important early route for Massachusetts and Connecticut emigrants headed for western New York and beyond. In 1801 the New York legislature commission turnpikes (toll roads), mail, and stagecoach service from the Hudson River to the Susquehanna River. Tolls were collected at gates every ten miles. Once stagecoach service began, inns soon followed.<ref>Lyman H. Gallagher, "The Catskill Turnpike in Stage Coach and Tavern Days," ''Crooked Lake Review'' (Fall 2005) at http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/136_167/137fall2005/137palmer2.html (accessed 28 December 2011).<ref> | |||
One road called the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike (or Jerico Road) went from Rhinebeck-Kingston to Bainbridge (formerly Jerico). Another called the Susquehanna Turnpike went from Catskill to Unadilla, a few miles from Bainbridge. Stock companies were formed to raise the money and build, and maintain the roads. In 1804 the legislature authorized an extension called the Catskill Turnpike from the end of the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike at Baibridge west to Bath.<ref>Gallagher.</ref> | |||
=== Route === | === Route === | ||