Rochester, New York History - Page 2
Major indian trails overlaid on a map of Rochester, NY
Major indian trails overlaid on a map of Rochester, NY
Highland Drive follows the secret portage early eplorers sought to gain a water route to the interior of the continent. The Indians used this important water passage from the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes for trade.
Ridge Road, East Avenue and Brooks Avenue were also important east-west trails for the Seneca Indians. The approach from the south was along Scottsville Road, Plymouth Avenue and Genesee Street. To the east, Merchants Road once was a trail connecting the mouth of the Genesee to Canandaigua.
Europeans arrived in the area in the early 1700s, usually explorers, Jesuit missionaries or scouts establishing company trade routes, Barber said.
Many early settlers had been soldiers in the 1779 campaign of General John Sullivan. His mission was to wipe out the Iroquois for fear they would side with the British in the Revolutionary War.
After the war, the soldiers returned here for the rich farmland, said J. Sheldon Fisher, curator of the Valentown Museum in Ontario County. ''The climate was just right. It had the soil, the fine scenery. Everything was ideal.''
Map of Rochester in 1814
Map of Rochester in 1814