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Introduction

Road Trip

Internet Resources

Image Gallery

Introduction

     The Iroquois Trail is an ancient Native-American footpath located in New York State.  It extended through territory occupied by the Iroquois Confederacy between the Hudson River Valley and Lake Eire. This trail would later became incorporated into an improved roadway known as the Mohawk Trail, and later the Mohawk Turnpike.

     By the early decades of the 18^th century the need for a road from the Hudson River to Lake Erie was apparent. Settlers first used the Iroquois Trail, to travel the Mohawk River Valley, which is a natural route to the west from

Albany to Lake Erie.  By the 1750’s the path had grown into a clearly defined wagon road called the Mohawk Trail. The old road ran through central New York state following the Mohawk River. It was at that time the sole route through the Appalachians by which thousands of settlers migrated from the Northeastern seaboard to the Midwest. Soon the trail was extended to Lake Ontario, where boats could be used to ferry wagons and families to other Lake Ontario ports including Upper Canada.

   In 1793 the much-improved road from Albany to Utica became known as the Mohawk Turnpike.  In 1794 Charles Williams, an agent for the Pulteney Association   persuaded the State of New York to extend the Mohawk

Map of the Mohawk (Trail) Turnpike

Click on the map to view a full-sized image

Turnpike  through  Geneva  and Canandaigua to the future site of Avon on the Genesee.  The Great Genesee Road, as it was called, gave the Pulteney lands direct access to the Albany and New York city markets. The Erie Canal rendered the road less important, and when the railroads were built its value was further diminished.

     Today, Route 5 and its cousin, Route 5S, cross upstate New York and are collectively and historically referred to as the Mohawk Turnpike. They both parallel the New York Thruway (Interstate 90) and the Mohawk River. NY Route 5 hugs the northern bank of the river while NY Route 5S hugs the southern bank.

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)

COUNTY (Road Trip Segment)

COUNTY (Road Trip Segment)

Albany County, NY (1)

Fulton County, NY (2)

Herkimer County, NY (2)

Albany County, NY (1)

Fulton County, NY (2)

Herkimer County, NY (2)

Albany County, NY (1)

Fulton County, NY (2)

Herkimer County, NY (2)

Genealogy Road Trip

This “Genealogy Road Trip” is divided into segments that require between 1 and 2 hours of driving time.  The entire 100 mile journey should take approximately 2.25 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

Albany, NY to Fonda, NY

SEGMENT 2

Fonda, NY to Utica, NY

Segment 1

Albany, NY to Fonda, NY

Driving Distance = 45 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

Segment 2

Fonda, NY to Utica, NY

Driving Distance = 55 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

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

·         The Mohawk (Iroquois) Trail

·         Mohawk or Iroquois Trail

·         Mohawk Turnpike – Photo Collection

·         NY Route 5, History-based Travel, Road Trip

·         Three Rivers, Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie

·         Early American Roads and Trails

·         The Iroquois Trail, by David Cusick, et.al., 1892

·         The Old Mohawk-Turnpike Book

·         Little Journeys along the Old Mohawk Turnpike

Download a free 2-page Fact Sheet

about American migration routes.

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.

Mohawk Turnpike Toll Bridge over the West

Canada Creek at Herkimer, New York, 1870

Use this LINK to see the “Image

 Gallery” that pertain to this topic.

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