Clayton, W. Woodford, History of Union and Middlesex Counties. p. 431-437.

CHAPTER LXI.

EARLY ROADS.

By Charles D. Deschler

THE first highways in New Jersey of which there are any records or traditions were Indian paths. These are often referred to in early deeds and in the old records of commissioners for laying out roads. In a very old map which accompanies the edition of the Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery, published by James Parker in New York in 1747 (which map he reproduced from a still more ancient one, called "Popple’s Large Map of the English Colonies in America"), there is a tracing of one of the most notable of these Indian paths, known as the "Minisink Path," and which extended from the Navesink Highlands on the ocean to Minisink Island in the Delaware, a distance of about seventy-five miles. This path started from Navesink, near the mouth of Shrewsbury River or Inlet, in Monmouth County, and ran northwesterly through Middletown to the Raritan River, in Middlesex County, crossing the river at Kent’s Neck, near Crab Island, between Amboy and the mouth of South River. After crossing the Raritan the path ran north-northwest in its course, crossing the head of Rahway River, till it reached a point about six miles west of Elizabethtown Point, when it ran a short distance due north, and the remainder of its route north-northwest, passing over the mountains to the west of Springfield and Newark, and traversing the whole of Morris and Essex Counties in a north-northwest course to Minisink Island in the Delaware, below Port Jervis, and near the point of intersection of Sussex County in New Jersey with Orange County in New York. This northerly limit of the Minisink path was a part of the favorite hunting-ground of the Minisink Indians, which extended throughout the entire valley lying north of the Blue Mountains in Pennsylvania, stretching from the Wind Gap in that State into New York near the Hudson. We may indulge the fancy that this path was devised to enable the "upper ten" among the aborigines to enjoy the "season" at Long Branch, and to lay up stores of shells and fish. At Amboy, and at intervals along the sea-coast from Shrewsbury to Barnegat, there still remain relics of these periodical visits of the Indians, consisting of various-sized mounds of opened oyster-shells, many of which are from six to twenty feet in height, having a corresponding base, and built in a conical form. Some of these are now covered with alluvial, which has been in course of deposit upon them for centuries. There are also remains of shell-banks, made up of other than oyster-shells, being of the shells of clams and periwinkles, out of the former of which the Indians made their black (and most valuable) wampum. It is believed that the shell-banks or mounds of this kind are the refuse of Indian wampum manufactories.*

     "Besides this extensive path there were many others. One of these ran from Perth Amboy to New Brunswick, where it crossed the Raritan, and from thence ran to Six-Mile Run, and through the State westward. The present road through Six-Mile Run, Kingston, and Princeton was laid ,out upon this path. Another of these paths ran from Shrewsbury through Monmouth County southerly, and was afterwards known as the ‘Old Burlington Path.’ Upon a part of this the road called the ‘Lower Road’ was laid out.
     "As in these cases so in many others, the Indian paths determined the location and course of the roads that were afterwards established by the early colonists; and it is worthy of notice that while many of the roads laid out by our ancestors were afterwards voided, by reason of the unfavorable character of the ground and other natural disadvantages, not a single instance is presented of a road or part of a road constructed upon the site of an Indian path having been abandoned for any such cause. The American Indian was a natural engineer, and the paths which he made were at once direct and skillfully selected for their combination of all the natural advantages that were required. If the Indian paths crossed a stream it was either at the easiest and safest fording-place or above or below the point which was most liable to interruption from freshets; if they traversed a swamp it was at the precise spot where permanent or solid ground was to be found; if they crossed a range of hills it was by an easy grade and where the height and breadth were least formidable. In whatever direction they tended the ground combined every essential which the highest civilization has since ascertained to be desirable in a road, whether directness, economy of labor, or permanence be considered.
     "The first roads traversing New Jersey that were made by European settlers were laid by the Dutch, with the purpose of connecting their settlements on the Noordt River (the Hudson), and especially at Nieuw Amsterdam (New York), with those of the Zuydt River (the Delaware) at Fort Casimir (New Castle, Del.). These must have been constructed in the period embraced between, A.D. 1620 and 1660, certainly after 1623, when Fort Nassau was built by Cornelius Jacobse Mey, the Dutch Governor under the West India Company, and most probably after 1651, when Fort Casimir was built also by the Dutch. The intercourse between the settlements on the Hudson and those on the Delaware was so infrequent, however, that the only mode of communication at this time was by letters, which were dispatched across the bay to Elizabethtown, and from thence were carried forward from tribe to tribe by runners, who were sometimes whites, but more commonly friendly Indians. Much light is thrown on the early history of these roads by the Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery, which supplies two maps defining the exact routes of these early Dutch roads with great particularity. Their course cannot be better illustrated than by referring to these maps, and by quoting from this old document as follows:
     "The Town then (that is, in the ‘Dutch Time,’ A.D. 1620 to 1660) called New Amsterdam and Manados, which is now (1745) the City of New York, was the first settlement and the chief Town of the Dutch upon Hudson’s River, and the plan of Residence of the Director-General of New Netherland; and Fort Casimier, now called New Castle, on the West side of Delaware River, was their chief Town upon Delaware River; and the roads from the one to the other of the said Towns past through the Lands in Question by this Bill, as is represented in the Map No; 1 annexed; and more distinctly by the Map No. 2 annexed.
     "And your Orators to shew your Excellency, That the Tide flows up Raritan River to New Brunswick; represented on the Map No.2, where, in the Dutch time, and yet, the Road to Delaware River from New Amsterdam did cross; and at New Brunswick the said Raritan River, about Low-water then was and as yet is fordable and usually crossed or Horseback; and that the Tide of Delaware River runs up to or near Delaware Falls; and at Low-water and when there are no Land-Floods is fordable at said Falls, and was and is usually crossed a Horseback and at no place below New Brunswick and Delaware Falls are or ever were the said Rivers Raritan and Delaware fordable."**
     "The same old document states that in the year 1668 and 1670 ‘one Peter Jegow had License for and kept an House of Entertainment, for Accommodation of Passengers, Travellers and Strangers over against Mattinicunk Island,’ at Lazy Point, ‘which Island is said to be eight or nine miles below Delaware Falls,’ and ‘is between Burlington and Bristol,’... ‘by which Point the Lower Road from New Amsterdam to Delaware or the Zuydt River, in the Dutch Time, and as yet doth cross by a Ferry there which two Roads are represented on the Map No.2 annexed.’ ‘And,’ it goes on to say, ‘your Orators Charge there were no settlements in the Dutch Time (1620 to 1664) nor long after at Perth Amboy, nor near to it on Staten Island over against it; nor on the South Side of Raritan over against it, nor no Ferry then kept there; nor was there any Road in the Dutch Time that Way used, nor at any place lower down the Raritan River than where New Brunswick now stands, which was formerly called Inian’s Ferry; and which road still continues the principal and most frequented Road, notwithstanding many Endeavors to make it pass through Perth Amboy.’***
     "There can be no doubt that the first road which traversed New Jersey passed from New York (then New Amsterdam) through the bay and the kills by means of a ferry to the point afterwards Elizabethtown, and from thence through the towns afterwards known as Woodbridge and Piscataway to Inian’s Ferry. At or very near this latter point two roads were formed. One of these, originally called the ‘Upper Road,’ afterwards known as the ‘King’s Highway,’ passed on through the present sites of Kingston and Princeton to Trenton (or Delaware Falls, as it was then called), where it crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania, continuing to Bristol, and from thence to Fort Casimir, or New Castle, and subsequently to Philadelphia . . . A detailed outline of that portion of this road lying between New Brunswick and the province line as it existed in 1765 has been preserved in a field-book of Col. Azariah Dunham, who was appointed to run the line between Middlesex and Somerset in that year by the justices and freeholders of the county. This map has peculiar interest for the reason that it supplies the names and residences of those who lived along the road in 1765.
     "The other road, known in the early times as the ‘Lower Road,’ diverged from the ‘Upper Road’ near Inian’s Ferry, at George’s road. Originally the point of divergence was several miles west of New Brunswick, but in after-times it was shifted within the present limits of the corporation. Leaving the ‘Upper Road,’ the ‘Lower Road’ trended southerly and westerly through Cranbury to Burlington, where it crossed the Delaware and rejoined the ‘Upper Road’ at Bristol. The ‘Lower Road’ was far less ancient than the ‘Upper,’ as appears from an act passed in 1695, entitled ‘An act for repairing the new road from Mr. John Inian’s to Burlington,’ the preamble of which is as follows: ‘Whereas the new road from Mr. John Inians, his house upon Raritan River, to the limits of this province towards Burlington is a part of the great thoroughfare of this province from New England, New York, etc., to the westward, which yet being unsettled may fall to decay to the great inconveniency of travellers, who may pass and repass that way, unless care be taken to maintain the same until such time as it may be maintained by those who may hereafter inhabit it, etc.’ The act then goes on to provide that the road shall be kept up by the innholders of the towns of Piscataway, Woodbridge, and Elizabethtown, who were respectively assessed three pounds fifty shillings and four pounds ten shillings annually for five years for that purpose. The duty of the oversight and repairs of the road was intrusted to George Drake, an innkeeper of Piscataway, who was empowered to receive the above tax and to employ laborers."(4*)
     "Periodically for many years, beginning as early as 1683-85 and continuing till 1740, efforts had been made to divert travel from the established old road through Inian’s Ferry to Perth Amboy, and by a ferry across the Raritan at Radford’s, now South Amboy, to extend another road through Spotswood to Burlington. The first intimation of a purpose of this kind is found in the ‘Instructions’ of the proprietors to Governor Gawen Lawrie on the 20th of July, 1683, in which they say, ‘We could wish it might be discovered whether there may not a convenient road be found betwixt Perth Town and Burlington, for the entertaining a land commerce that way.’(5*) And in obedience to these instructions Governor Lawrie laid out a road and established a ferry, with a boat to run between Amboy and New York, to ‘entertain travellers’ during his term of office, which closed in 1686.(6*) But the effort to divert the travel from the old road proved ineffectual, for on the 14th of April, 1698, the proprietors in their instructions to Governor Basse again press the matter, urging him to ‘lay before the Assembly the great advantage that will redound to the Trade of the Province in General to cause the publick road to pass through the Post Town of Perth Amboy from New York, & c., to West Jersey and Pennsylvania, to which good end’ Governor Basse was further instructed to ‘endeavor to get an Act passed to lay a Tax on the County to bear the charge of a Work tending so much to the Publick Benefit of the Province.’(7*)

In connection with these efforts for the diversion of the public travel and traffic to Perth Amboy, it should be borne in mind that it was a place of ‘great expectations.’ It was a seaport, and was to be the London of the Western Hemisphere. It was the place where the reflected light of royalty shone in the persons of the proprietors and their representatives. It was the home of the Colonial Governors, and they held their mimic court there. It was the appointed place for the meeting of the General Assembly, and for the sessions of the courts. It was perceived that it was destined to become the great maritime centre of America, and perhaps of the world, a fantasy which has never been eradicated, and is soberly entertained by some of their descendants in that sprightly city even to this day. Their pride, their interest, and doubtless to a great extent their convictions led the proprietors and those who held under them to concentrate upon the infant metropolis every influence that could contribute to its welfare.

     "The earliest public record I have been able to discover of the positive existence of a ferry at Perth Amboy in connection with a road leading from thence to intersect the ‘Lower Road’ to Burlington is contained in an entry in the venerable manuscript volume of ‘Minutes of the Middlesex County Courts,’ comprising the period between 1683 and 1720, which is preserved in the clerk’s office of the county of Middlesex. The last eleven leaves of this ancient muniment are devoted to a record of the acts of the commissioners of roads for Middlesex County, and under date of June 14, 1705, it is therein stated that the commissioners— John Bishop, George Drake, and John Matthews— laid out ‘our common Road of six Rod wide, Beginning at the County line between Elizabethtown and Woodbridge, near Robison’s Branch, thence extending along through Woodbridge to Perth Amboy, the same that was laid out in the last Governor Lowry’s time, and from Amboy ferry leading to Burlington, as it now lies, by South River Bridge to Cranbury brook, and so forward.’ So that in obedience to the instructions of the proprietors above recited in 1683 to Governor Lawrie, and repeated in 1698 to Governor Basse, a ferry had been established at Perth Amboy, and a road had been laid out from thence connecting with the ‘Lower Road’ by way of South River Bridge and Cranbury, certainly at some time after 1698, and prior to 1705. The ferry at Perth Amboy is also spoken of in an act of the General Assembly passed Jan. 26, 1716—17, and the rates charged for ferriage are given. By this act, however, it appears that the business of the ferry at that date was chiefly between Perth Amboy and New York, Perth Amboy and Staten Island, and Perth Amboy and Wehauk, though mention is made of a ferry from Amboy to Radford’s, the latter being on the south side of the Raritan, at the present site of South Amboy. It seems that at this time the ferry from Amboy to Radford’s was used rather for the private convenience of the owners of plantations there than for any public purposes.
     "I have not been able to discover any public act of the Assembly or other body establishing or confirming the main highway traversing the State and crossing the Raritan at Inian’s Ferry. It is doubtful if there ever were such an enactment. . . . The earliest enactment relative to any road which I have been able to discover under the English rule is an act of the Assembly passed April 6, 1676, as follows: ‘Be it enacted by this Assembly that for the more safe and orderly Passage of the aforesaid Deputies (of Middletown and Shrewsbury to the meetings of the General Assembly) for the future that care be taken by the Inhabitants of the town of Middletown to make choice of two or more Men out of the said Town, them to join with two or more also chosen out of Piscataqua, to make out the nearest and most convenient Way that may be found between the said Towns upon the Country charge; and this to be done between this and the tenth of May next, upon the penalty of what Damages may ensue for the want thereof.’(8*) This was followed six years later by an Act of Assembly passed March 1, 1682,(9*) which is the first one of a general character of which any record is preserved, and is entitled ‘An Act for making and settling Highways, Passages, Landings, Bridges, and Ferries within this Province.’ This act assigned the work prescribed to commissioners in each county, of whom the following were appointed ‘for the County of Middlesex and parts adjacent, The Governor, or Deputy Governor for the time being, the surveyor-general, Capt. John Palmer, Thomas Worne, Stephen Worne, Samuel Dennis, Samuel Moore, Edward Slater, John Gilman, Hopewell Hull. . .
     "Before the passage of this act the roads in New Jersey, with the exception of the great highways already described, were mere Indian tracks, cartways, bridle- and foot-paths, and it was under the authority of this law in East Jersey that the various roads penetrating the province were laid out. . . . In Governor Lawrie’s time, from 1684 to 1686, numerous roads were opened, several of them of considerable importance, and which remain in use until this day. . . . During the period from 1705 to 1713 no less than thirty-five different roads were viewed, opened, and established within the limits of Middlesex County.
     "Prior to the passage of the general law. . . . and as late as 1686, the roads which have been above described were the only ones stretching over any considerable portion of the State, or linking together its scattered plantations, settlements, and embryo towns. The next road of public and general importance was the one familiarly spoken of as ‘the Road up Raritan.’ This branched from the main highway that ran across the State, starting out from it at Piscataway, and running to Bound Brook, and so through Somerset County to the North and South Branches. There is no official record in existence, so far as I have been able to discover, of the first opening of this road, and its exact date is difficult to arrive at. In the course of my investigation, however, some facts have come to light which enable me to fix the date with tolerable precision. And as this road was an important one to our own county, at the same time that it was one of the earliest results of the pioneer plantations along the Raritan in Somerset County, and as it afterwards became a leading contributor to its settlement and development, it has a strong claim upon our interest.
     "Among the other roads laid out in 1705 by John Bishop, George Drake, and John Matthews, commissioners of roads for the county of Middlesex, the record of which throws light upon still earlier roads, is one which is described as follows: And also for one other public, common, and General Highway, to extend from Woodbridge to Piscataway, and also from Amboy to Piscataway, and from, thence along the Road to and through Somerset County to the North Branch, as it was formerly laid out in the late Governor Lowery’s time.’ So that, if this record be accurate, this road was first laid out during the administration of Governor Lawrie, which extended from 1684 to 1686. That it must have been laid out in 1686 appears from the following affidavits, which were made in 1720, when some difficulties had arisen about the true course of the ‘road up Raritan,’ and which are preserved in the old book of records of Middlesex County: (10*)
     "1st. ‘William Sharp, of Woodbridge in the County of Middlesex in the Province of New Jersey, Yeoman, Aged About fifty-seven years, maketh Oath on ye holy Evangelists of Almighty God that he this Deponent from the year one thousand six hundred and eighty-six that he settled upon the North side of ye Raritan River near the meeting of, the North and South Branches he used ye Road which was commonly called and esteemed ye Highway said to be layed out by the authority of ye Government of the Province of New Jersey. During the nine years that he lived there the Highway led from Bound Brook near to Mr. Giles’ House through the land late in the tenor of John Rudyard and so behind the improved land of Capt. Codrington, Mr. White’s, and ye other ye Inhabitants unto ye North Branch of ye said River, near to the upper end of a plantation ye west side thereof. William Sharpe, April 29, 1720.’
     "2d. ‘John Campbell, of Piscatua in the County of Middlesex in Province of New Jersey, Yeoman, aged about 58 years, Maketh Oath on the Holy Evangelists of Allmighty God, That in the year of our Lord 1686, this Deponent was Coming down Raritan River with several of the Servants belonging to Lord Neil Campbell going to Woodbridge meeting, there being no way this Deponent knew but through the Inclosures of Mr. John White, Deceased, they were stopt by Mr. John White at his gate for some little time, but then not before this Dept and other Servants returned, ye said John White went to Amboy to Governor Loury, and complained against them, who were called before the said Governor Loury, and answered they knew no other way. The Governor said there should be a way appointed forthwith to go up the Country clear of Mr. White, and the other Inhabitants’ Improvements. Accordingly before this Deponent, with others aforesaid went up, the Way was marked out Leeding from Bound Brook, near Mr. Giles’s House, through the Land late in the tenner of Mr. John Rudyards, through Mr. Codrington’s Land behind his fields, and so behind the Rear of all the Improved Lands belonging to the Several Inhabitants on the said Raritan River to the North Branch thereof, at or near the upper part of a Plantation on the West Side of the said Branch belonging to Peter Van Voste, and that during the space of nine years that this Deponent lived up the Raritan, and South Branch thereof, he always understood that to be ye Highway layed out by ye authority of ye Government of East Jersey. John Campbell, April 29, 1720.’
     "In connection with the affidavit of this man, who was a servant of Lord Neil Campbell, and in 1686 was on his way from the North Branch to attend church at Woodbridge, it may be mentioned that in 1685, Lord Neil Campbell became the owner of one-fourth of a twenty-fourth part of East Jersey. In January, 1685, he had located 1650 acres on the Raritan and North Branch, and it was from this ‘Plantation,’ without doubt, that his clansman was proceeding to Woodbridge when arrested by Mr. John White....
     "The course of the ‘Road up Raritan’ from Piscataway to Bound Brook is not clear. Certainly it did not come from Piscataway to Inian’s Ferry, and ruin from thence along the river to Bound Brook, as the road now lies, that road being of much later origin After combining all the information I have been able to gather, I am persuaded that the road left Piscataway (a six-rod road),(11*) passed from thence in a northwesterly direction west, of Metuchen, through Quibbletown and New Market to Bound Brook. Considerable portions of this road remain six rods wide to this day, although much of the original road has beer obliterated by the plow, and parts of the existing road are made up of newer and much narrower ones. After reaching Bound Brook the road extended to Somerville, running, as we have seen by the above affidavits in the rear of improved lands and farm-houses on the banks of the Raritan, a little to the south of the present turnpike, following the north side of the Raritan to the junction of the two branches, and from thence going west to Lambertville, at that time called Howell’s Ferry.
     "The road from Monmouth County, provided for by act of 1676, already referred to, ‘was mainly constructed upon the old Minisink Indian path, beginning at Shrewsbury, passing through Middletown and Mount Pleasant, and continuing on or near the old Indian path through Monmouth County and a pan of Middlesex to the point where it diverged to Kent’s Neck in order to cross the Raritan. At this point the road continued west of and along the Raritan to the vicinity of Washington, or Old Bridge, most probably to a ford anciently known as Abraham’s Ford and from thence still along the Raritan, past Weston’s Mills, to New Brunswick, or, as it was then called, ‘Inian’s.’ In the old records of roads I find two extremely interesting minutes throwing light on that portion of this old road which was at or near New Brunswick. The first of these occurs under date of April 12, 1716, and describes a ‘highway’ as having been laid out by the commissioners, beginning ‘About a mile and a half from Inyon’s Ferry, along the post road that goes to Cranberry Brook’ (this was th Lower, subsequently George’s road), ‘and from thence southeast throw Capt. Longfield’s Land, and then throw Leander Smock’s Land, and then throw Capt., Longfield’s till it comes to ye road that goes to his Mill.’ This road must have been a cross-road from George’s road to the Navesink road, on or near which last was Longfield’s mill. The site of the mill may have been at or near the present Weston’s mill, or it may have been farther up Lawrence’s Brook, nearer to Millstone, or it may have been farther east, near the mouth of the brook, as there are old mill-sites at all these points.
     "The other minute of commissioners bearing upon this old Navesink road is one voiding the Mill road just noticed; and it is so replete with interest. I quote it in full, interjecting occasional explanations, as follows:
     "Country or MIDDLESEX, Januarie ye 11th, 1716. Whereas, Sometime In April or May Last past As may by ye Records more Certainly Appear, Mr. John Mathew, Mr. Isaac Smallie, and Mr. George Researrick, Commissioners for ye County of Middx., did Lay out A Road to Mr. Cornelius Longfields Mill, and it is found by ye Neighbourhood to be a Very bad Road to ye sd Mill. And Also at ye Request of Above fifty of ye Neighbors that have occasion of sd Mills, who, by their Petition and their Names Affixed to the same desired that ye Road to ye Ancient Mills might run conformable to or near thereabouts where ye Ancient Way was used for ye Navesink People for above fourty years.’ (It was in 1676, just forty years before this date, when this. ‘Ancient Way’ was ordered by the General Assembly) ‘to pass to ye Place now known by ye Name of Onyons Ferry. These are therefore to signify to All Persons concerned, that we ye Commissioners hereunder Named at ye Earnest Request of ye above sd Neighbourhood have Laid out A road of two Rode wide, beginning Right Over Against ye House, Commonly known by ye House of Mr. Inions House, and so running Southerly over ye brook (probably Lyell’s Brook) where Neversink Road formerly did run along by Benjamin Pridmores, thence by Landare Smocks, within two or three Rods of his House, as ye old Road went; thence directly through Mr. Longfield’s owne Lands to his Mills.’ Longfield’s Mills must have been at the site of Weston’s Mills below New Brunswick. By Reid’s Map it is shown that Cornelius Longfield owned a tract of 600 acres at that point. During the Revolutionary war a farm designated ‘Longfield’s Farm’ was owned by Richard Gibb, and the houses upon it were destroyed by the British. In his inventory of the depredations committed by the British it is described as being ‘3/4 of a mile from town.’
     "At the same time the commissioners laid out a cross-road connecting the Navesink road with the Upper road at Six-Mile Run, which they described as ‘An other Road of two Rods wide for ye benefit of ye Five Mile Brook Men or any other People ye have occasion of sd Mills, to extend from ye said Leonard Smocks to ye Road yt leads to Six Mile Run.’ The commissioners were George Rescarrick, John Bishop, and John Martin. There was another very early road traversing Monmouth County, to which I merely refer, which passed through Shrewsbury and Middletown in the direction of Freehold, Monmouth Co., over Cream Ridge, in the vicinity of Allentown, Crosswicks, and Bordentown, to Burlington. This also for the most part was originally an old Indian path, afterwards known as the ‘Old Burlington Path,’ and was undoubtedly used by the aborigines on the Delaware in their periodical visits to the ocean at Navesink, whither they went to gather clams, oysters, shell for wampum, and to lay in stores of fish.
     "The Middlebush Road.— One other road having something more than a local importance remains to be noticed. This is the old Middlebush road. A considerable part of this road had been established by custom and use probably as early as 1690; but, so far as I have been able to discover, it was first laid out by authority in 1712, at which time it was also greatly extended. The record describing this road is as follows:
     "Pursuant to an Act of Assembly Intitled An Act for regulating ye Highway & for Appointing and Confirming of Commissioners for every County to regulate and lay out ye same, Accordingly ye Commissioners for ye County of Summersett having layed out and ordered ye Road from Raritan River toward Delaware Falls to run as followeth ye is to say— Beginning at Innion’s Ferry thence running ye nearest course to a brook known by ye name of Salt Pond Brook,(12*) thence Along or as near ye Path as it now goeth until it comes to Derrick Jonsees House, thence upon A straight course to John Wilsons shop,’ (another record says that John Wilson lived ‘upon Rocky Hill,’) ‘thence directly ye most convenient as can be had to Capt. Harrisons Mill,’ (this mill wag on Millstone River, at the point near where it crosses the Upper road near Kingston), ‘thence along ye new cart way to Justice Leonards, thence along ye old Road (the Upper road) till it comes near Stony Brook, so crossing ye said brook about three or four chains below ye Old Road, so turning up to ye Old Road again and so to ye Province Line. The said Country Road is to be four Rods in breadth. Witness our hand this 6th day of June, 1712. Andrew Bird, Michael Van Veghtie, John Harrison, Thomas Yeats.’
     "This road, then, ran from Inian’s Ferry westerly to Middlebush, and probably to Millstone, from whence it ran southwesterly to Rocky Hill, and from there to Harrison’s Mills, on the Great road near Kingston, from thence it ran alongside the Great or Upper road— now approaching to, now receding from, and sometimes intersecting it— to Stony Brook and the province line.(13*)
     "The remaining roads that were laid out in Middlesex County in the early days, and for many years afterwards, were almost entirely local in their character, and were intended either to enable people who had clustered, together in neighborhoods in the interior to get to mill or to market, or to tap the great main roads that traversed the province, or to reach the important towns of Woodbridge, Piscataway, and Perth Amboy. Nearly all of these roads are made to intersect the main roads or country roads branching off from them, and they all converge more or less directly upon the towns above named, at which the fairs, markets, and courts were held, and in one of which (Perth Amboy) the General Assembly continued to be convened. Of course there were also numerous smaller roads leading to and from landings and ferries at various points on the Raritan River, down which there was constant travel, and on which the people from the interior of Somerset and the intervening points on the river transported their produce in canoes and on rafts and fiat-boats far more easily and "expeditiously than they were able to do over the new, imperfectly constructed, and scarcely worked country roads."

 * Brodhead.

** Elizabeth Bill in Chancery, p. 4.

*** Ibid., pp. 4, 5.

(4*) Leaming and Spicer, pp. 359, 361.

(5*) Ibid., p. 173.

(6*) This road appears on a map in Whitehead’s "East Jersey" as "Lawrie’s Road." It is located south of the "Lower Road," and runs from South Amboy through Spotswood, possibly intersecting the "Lower Road" before reaching Burlington, but of that the map gives no evidence, being too small to show the road the whole distance.

(7*) Leaming and Spicer, p. 221.

(8*) Leaming and Spicer, p. 118.

(9*) Ibid., pp. 256—58.

(10*) Pages 80, 81, and 91.

(11*) Record of Roads (Deshler’s copy), p. 81.

(12*) Salt ponds or licks were numerous in the vicinity in the "olden time," when, as Denton relates, the "Countrey" was "stored with wilde Beasts, as Deer and Elks": and in an old Indian deed preserved in the Book of Early Records, p. 234, a "great and little salt Pond" are spoken of, and described as being on "Topp of the first mountain" of the "Blew Hills, next to Woodbridge."

(13*) See old British map, also Col. Dunham’s map.