Bay Road

United States Migration  Trails and Roads  Massachusetts 

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

History and Route
The Bay Road stretched about 47 miles (75 kilometers) from Massachusetts Bay to Buzzard's Bay. It went from the city of Boston in Suffolk County through Norfolk County into Bristol County to the city of Taunton, and thence to the city of New Bedford in Massachusetts.

A partial description of the Bay Road (the northern portion) is found in Wikipedia as follows. Bay Road is a 17+ mile north-south road in southeastern Massachusetts. The road is in parts a very old road, dating to colonial times, when it was known as the King's Highway. Bay Road begins at the town line of Canton and Sharon, Norfolk County just north of an intersection with Route 27 at Cobb Corner and ends in Taunton as Bay Street. The road heads south along the Sharon side of the Sharon/Stoughton town line in Norfolk County. The road enters Bristol County in the town of Easton. Bay Road runs along the east side of Borderland State Park and passes through the intersection of Routes 106 and 123 in the neighborhood of Five Corners. The road then enters into the town of Norton. There, Bay Road runs along the eastern shore of Winnecunnet Pond just before entering the Taunton neighborhood of North Taunton, where Bay Road becomes Bay Street, and intersects Interstate 495. The street runs alongside Lake Sabbatia and Watson Pond State Park. It then enters the Whittenton section and terminates at Broadway (Route 138).

Two sections of the road, a portion in Easton (Foundry Street to the Norton town line) and the entire segment in Norton, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Norton section is listed as "Old Bay Road", while that in Easton is listed as "Bay Road".