Mohawk Trail Massachusetts

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Introduction

The Mohawk Trail began as a Native American trade route which connected Atlantic tribes with tribes in Upstate New York and beyond. The early European settlers used the Indian Path to travel between the English settlements of Boston and Deerfield, and the Dutch settlements in New York. The white settlers and traders brought with them the horse and the wheel, which required the widening and slight relocation of the original path.

The Mohawk Trail followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range. The first rough road, was made for horses and ox carts in 1753, by Gideon Hawley. Following this was the Rice road, which was but a new way of ascending the eastern slope. It joined the Hawley road at the summit and was later called the "Shunpike."

During the Colonial period, many notable personages traveled "The Trail". Metacomet, called King Philip by the English, traveled The Trail about 1676 in an unsuccessful effort to recruit the Mohawk. King Philip's War also proved unsuccessful in stopping the European invasion. Nearly 100 years later, Benedict Arnold, still an American patriot, traveled the Mohawk Trail to Fort Ticonderoga, New York. Starting in Boston, he recruited additional troops in Deerfield and headed to the

English held fort. He captured their cannon and returned with the artillery to Boston via the Indian Path. For those who wish, part of the original footpath, the old Indian Trail, can be hiked today in the Mohawk Trail State Forest.

With the Indian Wars and the American Revolution over, the white settlements concentrated on more trade with each other. North Adams became a

Map of the Mohawk Trail

Click on the thumbnail map to view a full-sized image

booming industrial town, and the old trade route between Boston and western Massachusetts became more vital. Widened and graded, the old trail, now became a road and was better able to support the increasingly heavy traffic.

Today the Mohawk Trail is part of Massachusetts Route 2, which was created as one of United States' first scenic highways. The entire route from the Atlantic to the Hudson River was about 175 miles in length. Today the scenic portion of the route follows much of the original Indian trail, from Orange, Massachusetts to Williamstown, Massachusetts, for about 65 miles (105 km) through the Berkshire mountains.

Around the road itself is Mohawk Trail State Forest, a 6,400-acre (26 km²) forest, known for its camping, and occasional encounters with bobcats and black bears.

Road Trip

If you have traced your 18^th or 19^th century ancestors to any of the counties listed below it is quite possible that they traveled to that location along this migration route. Therefore you may find additional relevant information about your ancestral lineages by taking the following road trip through these localities.

COUNTY (Road Trip Segment)

Albany County, NY (4)

Bennington County, VT (3,4)

Berkshire County, MA (3,4)

Cheshire County, NH (2)

Essex County, MA (1)

Franklin County, MA (2,3)

Hampshire County, MA (2,3)

Middlesex County, MA (1)

Norfolk County, MA (1)

Worcester County, MA (1,2)

Rensselaer County, NY (4)

Schenectady County, NY (4)

Suffolk County, MA (1)

Genealogy Road Trip

This “Genealogy Road Trip” is divided into segments that require between 1 and 2 hours of driving time.

The entire 175 mile journey should take approximately 4.00 hours to drive at 45 miles per hour. Within each segment you will find links to resources* that will assist you in planning a successful and enjoyable experience. The following maps are designed to show a close-up view of the counties and communities along this migration route. Relevant county seats are designated with a, beginning and end points of each segment are noted with a and historical sites with a .

SEGMENT 1

Boston, MA to

Leominster, MA

SEGMENT 2

Leominster, MA to

Millers Falls, MA

SEGMENT 3

Millers Falls, MA to

North Adams, MA

SEGMENT 4

North Adams, MA

to Troy, NY

Segment 1

Boston, MA to

Leominster, MA

228149- 2

Driving Distance = 48 miles; Driving Time = approximately 1.25 hours

Click on the map to view a full-sized image

Use the following LINKS to find information about the counties and localities found along this segment of the Route.

General Profile

Genealogy & History Resources

Historical Sites

228149- 4

Segment 2

Leominster, MA to

Millers Falls, MA

228149- 2

Driving Distance = 44 miles; Driving Time = approximately 1.00 hours

Click on the map to view a full-sized image

Use the following LINKS to find information about the counties and localities found along this segment of the Route.

General Profile

Genealogy & History Resources

Historical Sites

228149- 4

Segment 3

Millers Falls, MA to

North Adams, MA

228149- 2

Driving Distance = 47 miles; Driving Time = approximately 1.25 hours

Click on the map to view a full-sized image

Use the following LINKS to find information about the counties and localities found along this segment of the Route.

General Profile

Genealogy & History Resources

Historical Sites

228149- 4

Segment 4

North Adams, MA

to Troy, NY

228149- 2

Driving Distance = 40 miles; Driving Time = approximately 1.00 hours

Click on the map to view a full-sized image

Use the following LINKS to find information about the counties and localities found along this segment of the Route.

General Profile

Genealogy & History Resources

Historical Sites

Internet Resources

The Google search engine

button and following web

sites may provide you

with additional information

to assist with your research

about this topic.

· American Migration Patterns

· Migration Routes, Roads & Trails

· Brethren Life: Migrations

· Trails West

· Historical U.S. roads and trails - Wikipedia

· U.S. Historical Maps - Perry-Castañeda Collection

· Early American Roads and Trails

· Frontier Trails: A Brief History

· MIGRATIONS.org

· ROOTS / MIGRATIONS

· American Migration Fact Sheets

· Map guide to American migration routes,1735-1815

· Migration Book Store

· Early Migration Routes

· The Overland Trail Links--Ancient Indian Trails

· American Westward Expansion

· Migration Message Boards – Ancestry.com

· The African-American Migration Experience

· Migration Trails – map of many U.S. trails

· Migration Information & Maps By Ethnic Group

· Mohawk Trail - Masschusetts Scenic Drives

· MohawkTrail.com

· Mohawk Trail History

· Mohawk Trail Maps

· Mohawk Trail

· Driving Tours in the Mohawk Trail Region

Download a free 2-page Fact Sheet

about American migration routes

Family Historian's
Reference Library

The following Link will take you to our library of genealogy reference books. Here you will find books about historic American roads, trails, and paths. In addition, there are texts that pertain to ethnic and religion groups, history, geography as well as other books that will assist you with your research.

This Link will take you to our

collection of reference books.

Image Gallery

During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a variety of historic American roads, trails and migration. Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of this topic as well as our ancestors past lives.

Hail to the Sunrise Monument

“Hail to the Sunrise” monument, Charlemont, MA

Use this LINK to see the “Image

Gallery” that pertain to this topic.

Free Image Search
help from Google

Use the power of Google™ to find more interesting images about this topic. This button will link you to the Google Images Search page. Enter the topic you are

searching in the box and click “Search Images”. At the “Images” display page you will see the image, as well as the website of which it is associated.

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-- This webpage was last updated on --

01 October 2012