Old Connecticut Path

United States Migration  Trails and Roads  Massachusetts  Connecticut  Old Connecticut Path

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

Old Connecticut Path 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.