Old Connecticut Path - Westborough, MA
Posted by: neoc1
N 42° 14.931 W 071° 37.110
19T E 283981 N 4680726
A marker in Westborough, MA marks the point where the Old Connecticut Path left the road to climb over Fay Mountain.
Waymark Code: WMF2FN
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/11/2012
Views: 1
The Old Connecticut Path was the Native American trail that connected the Atlantic coast near present day Boston, MA, through the wilderness, to the Connecticut River Valley and present day Hartford, CT. Thomas Hooker and his congregation, in 1636, were the first English settlers to follow this trail in search of religious freedom and founded the new colony of Connecticut. Subsequently, it became a major route for transportation between Massachusetts Bay, inland Massachusetts and the new Connecticut Colony.
The old route is still followed, for part of its length, by Massachusetts Route 20 to Weston, MA. In Wayland it branches off to become a road still called the Old Connecticut Path which joins Route 126. It once again becomes the Old Connecticut path in Framingham. From Framingham the path runs along Route 9 and Route 30 to Westborough. In Westborough it follows Ruggles Road south. At the intersection of Ruggles Road, Mt. Pleasant Street and Valley Brook Road there is a sign, erected by the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Tercentenary Commission, marking the place where the colonial era trail left the road to go southwest over Fay Mountain. The trail then continues southwest through present day Connecticut and ends at Hartford, CT.
The sign is inscribed:
1630 - 1930
The Old Connecticut Path
An Indian trail before
1630 left the road here
to go over Fay Mountain.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Tercentenary Commission Markers