The Road Less Traveled: Forgotten Historic Highways of New England

by Robert A. Geake

Overview

Follow the author as he explores the once bustling stagecoach routes and turnpikes that crisscrossed communities throughout New England. Now quiet country lanes in the age of superhighways, traveling these routes today lets us explore the houses and buildings that still remain, and learn the history of the these homes and businesses, of the people who lived and worked within the communities these roads connected in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Each journey conveys a detailed description of the route and acts as a guide, as well as providing the history of the road. Long an avid hiker and kayaker, the author also provides information about those opportunities along the routes he has chosen, as well as suggestions for lodging, camping, and eating along the journey on some of the most picturesque roads in New England.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634991988
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	12/09/2019
Series:	America Through Time Series
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	1,167,628
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

ROBERT A. GEAKE has been writing regional history for over thirty years. His articles have most recently appeared on the blog smallstatebighistory.com. He is the author of thirteen books on local and New England history, including Keepers of the Bay: A History of the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island, Native and New Americans, A History of the Providence River, From Slaves to Soldiers, and New England Citizen Soldiers: Mariners and Minutemen. Mr. Geake is a guide for Historic New England and currently a board member of the Cocumscussoc Association, which runs historic Smith's Castle, in North Kingstown, R.I.

Table of Contents

Preface 5

1 Early Roads and Turnpikes 9

2 What is in a Name? 16

3 The Great Road: Saylesville to Union Village, Rhode Island 21

4 The Central Turnpike: Northbridge to Oxford, Massachusetts 37

5 The Norwich-Woodstock Turnpike: Norwich to Woodstock, Connecticut 46

6 The Post Road: North Kingstown, Rhode Island, to Mystic, Connecticut 68

7 The Durham Road: Guilford to Durham, Connecticut 86

8 The Goshen-Sharon Turnpike: Goshen to Sharon, Connecticut 97

9 U.S. Route 7: Sheffield, Massachusetts to Kent, Connecticut 102

10 The Old Homestead Highway: Worcester, Massachusetts to Keene, N.H. 118

11 Scenic By-Way: Route 30/100 Townsend to Weston, Vermont 130

12 Over the River and Through the Woods: Route 121 Bellows Falls to North Windham, Vermont 144

Bibliography 159