Post Road Overview -

The Boston Post Road is older than Boston,

having been worn two feet deep in places by the feet of a couple of hundred generations of Algonquin walkers. Its first English name was the Pequot Path, which ran from the coast of Massachusetts along various routes toward the Hudson.

First scouted by English Colonists in 1673, the Boston Post Road may be the oldest European road of any significance in North America. Like its Spanish counterpart, El Camino Real, (which was begun exactly a decade later with the building of the first Mission in Baja California,) the road is sometimes called “the King’s Highway.” But in many of the old New England towns through which it runs, it’s just called Main Street.

Do you have a story about this or any other legacy route? Or a tip about where to stay, eat, or walk along it?

(Gary Denton walked the southern route of the Post Road: read his blog about it in "Traveling Now.)

Though the post route extended to Philadelphia and beyond, its heart is comprised of three vaguely parallel routes between the Boston city line and the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street in New York City. So any time you walk up Broadway in New York, or through Harvard Square in Cambridge, you’re on the Boston Post Road. Granite milestones marked the way in the 18th century, and many of them still exist.

As the country grew, so, naturally did this important road. Much of it is now US1, US20, and old route 5. Stretches of the road are decidedly funky – other stretches are incredibly picturesque. There are three stretches that are National Historic Districts: in Darien, Connecticut; Weston, Massachusetts; and Rye, New York. A road with such a deep history absolutely cries out to be reclaimed and rediscovered. The good news is there is a brand new book coming out about the Boston Post Road that we can’t wait to read. It’s called The King’s Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route the Made America, by Eric Jaffe.

What we need for this legacy route are the same things we need for all of the historic pathways across America that we know can be at least partly rehabilitated as non-motorized travel routes. We need to hear from you about great hotels to stay in – fancy or frugal. Tell us what you know about the interesting places to eat, the views not to be missed, the stretches of the road to be avoided (though we don’t really believe in those), as well as any other ideas, tips, travel stories, photographs, family anecdotes, links.

Do you live along the Boston Post Road? Does it run along the main street of your town? Let us know your favorite inns, happy hours, museums and resting spots. If you walk parts of this route, you can even send us your iPod playlist! We want anything, in other words, that might be helpful to people who want to walk in the footsteps of the country’s founders.

We know that we’ve overlooked groups and individuals who are working to keep the tradition of the Boston Post Road – and of walking – alive. If you know about them, please tell us. We’ve got stories in the pipeline on little pieces of the puzzle. We’re working on filling in the map with more detail than just a straight line. If you or your local chamber of commerce want to adopt a stretch of the Boston Post Road and develop a walking route for it, send us an email.

And, of course, we’re looking for someone to walk and blog the whole thing for us. Or just one day’s worth—we’ll put the pieces together.

Pitch in and lend a foot. Thanks.