Fort Granville Road

Forgotten roads shimmer like fragile cobwebs over the mountains and valleys of central Pennsylvania. Many have disappeared under later roads and tracks. Others wind over the ridges as hiking trails or forestry roads. A very few remain as narrow paths in the woodlands. Their histories have become confused by 300 years of European settlers’ traffic. There were many such roads near Carlisle for the town was always a knot in this skein. The Fort Granville Road, mapped in 1755-1756, is an example of a truly forgotten, but still existing road.

The defeat and rout of General Braddock’s forces near Fort Pitt in the summer of 1755 upset the precarious balance between European and Native American, French and English, the Quaker dominated provincial government and the rising power of the Scots-Irish/non-Quaker elements. The deteriorating situation was exacerbated by the continual push of settlers onto un-purchased lands.^[1]

The provincial government was responsive rather than proactive and opposed to military solutions. The citizenship was largely unarmed and untrained in warfare. If an attack was not actually occurring, the threat was ignored.^[2]

The long peace under the Penn family was abruptly shattered. The attacks and massacres on the frontier and the outrage generated by them, pushed the provincial government to take action.^[3]

Frontier Forts a Necessity – 1755

The recently established county town of Carlisle and its neighbors, Shippensburg and Chambersburg, had fortifications. The Blue Mountains became the frontier with uneasy settlers in Sherman’s Valley, up the Juniata River as far as Lewistown and Huntingdon, and west to Bedford and Ligonier. These early settlers were largely Scots-Irish.

A military buffer zone to protect the Cumberland Valley was desperately needed. A line of forts was planned to parallel the interior frontier from the upper Susquehanna above Fort Hunter to the Maryland border. One site, Cpt. James Patterson’s on the Juniata River (near Mexico, Juniata County) already had fortifications. George Croghan and Patterson were deputized to build forts along the frontier. Fort Granville (Lewistown, Mifflin County) was begun during the winter of 1755-56. Croghan ‘s fort at Shirleysburg (Huntingdon county) was underway. Fort Littleton (Franklin County) guarded the road to Fort Pitt. A series of private forts and fortified farmsteads of varying degrees of security were strung between the provincial forts. With this line in place, the authorities were cautiously optimistic and the public outcry was appeased.^[4]

Fort Granville

Fort Granville was not included in the October 1755 list of forts calculated to protect the older, more settled areas, but by January 1756,^[5] a seasoned surveyor such as John Armstrong of Carlisle, or a trader such as Arthur Buchanan of Ohesson (Lewistown) may have pointed out the strategic value of a fort on the middle Juniata, blocking the Long Narrows through which raiding parties could access the lower Juniata. George Croghan, Conrad Weiser, and Andrew Montour also knew the value of a fort on the middle Juniata, blocking both the New Path/Juniata river paths and Logan’s Path from the north. These routes provided access for war parties from Kittanning, the Great Island (Lock Haven) and beyond the Sinnemahoning Creek into the Iroquois strongholds of New York State.

A fort at Ohesson had another valuable advantage; there was already a “road” leading to it from the military headquarters at Carlisle. It was a Native American path, but also used by traders/settlers such as the Buchanans and Holts,^[6] and with a little work, could be used to move men and supplies to the proposed Fort Granville. There was no need to reconnoiter and construct a new road as Braddock and his forces attempted.

It was not an easy route; there were three mountain climbs and six fords. The mountain climbs were the usual easy Native American grades. There were no “flat gaps” or river gaps to use. But it went as straight as possible, and at about 35 miles, was much shorter than the Susquehanna/Juniata routes. It avoided the Long Narrows between Mifflintown and Lewistown with its wretched path through prime ambush terrain.

The proposed Fort Granville road was part of a long distance Native American passageway from Niagara Falls to the Chesapeake Bay. As Professor Abraham Guss, a well-known educator, newspaper editor, and historian points out,^[7]

…building with stone and iron and steel…along the course of the old narrow…path that the Indian first found was the most direct and practicable line of communication between two given points.

He adds concerning the number of tracks and paths “There can be no doubt the whole country was ramified with the paths of the …ancient people of Juniata…”

The mountainous area between Carlisle and the proposed fort on the Juniata near Kishacoquillas creek was neither a trackless wilderness nor uninhabited. Paul A. W. Wallace’s excellent study of Indian paths discusses in detail the Native American network of paths and rods. These are difficult to date, but they were in place and the incoming white settlers used these passageways.

A section Wallace called “Logan’s Path” extended from the Great Island to the Long Narrows at present day Burnham-Derry near Lewistown. ^[8]The Fort Granville Road continued to the important crossroads at Carlisle and further to the Susquehanna River. The provincial planners, in their concentration on east-west routes years later entirely ignored Logans Path and the Fort Granville Road.

Comparison of two routes

The Fort Granville Road route entailed three mountain climbs (North or Blue Mountain in Cumberland County, Tuscarora Mountain in Perry and Juniata, and Blue Mountain in Mifflin County) six streams or river fordings, and a moderate risk of ambush or attack. There were several fortified homesteads along the route. The distance was about 30-35 miles; two to three days travel time by foot or pack horse train. An express rider, pushing his mount, could reach Carlisle in a day and a night along the well-marked path.

The only other option required travel to the Susquehanna River, up it to the Juniata River and along the “Little River” to the area of the proposed fort near Lewistown. This route had the distinct advantage of no mountain climbs. It involved 11 stream or river fordings. The two Patterson forts at Mexico (Juniata County) offered some security, however, the risk of ambush or attack in the extended, cramped stretch of the Long Narrows was high. The track was so bad on some sections of the Narrows it was necessary to resort to walking in the shallows of the river. The distance was 60-65 miles, or four or five days by foot or pack horse. The express rider was at a disadvantage here; he had to walk his mount through the rock-strewn and treacherous Long Narrows.

The 1756 Fort Granville Road Map

This sketch map shows the route from Carlisle to fort Granville. In the manner of Roman itinerary maps, it is not to scale but shows major features of the northwesterly route and their relationship to the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers. The confluence of Little Mahanoy Creek and the forks of the Susquehanna are shown correctly if schematically. It is perfectly usable, showing the ridge crossings, fords, and homes of settlers along the way or places where shelter could be found. A date of 1756 is penciled in the upper right corner. However, that appears to be a much later addition.

There is no indication of who drew this map. It had to be someone very familiar with both the immediate and greater areas. The head waters of the Conodoguinet, Shermans, and Tuscarora Creeks are all shown in the correct relationship to each other. The names of two families, Stewart and Sheasley, are given in Tuscarora Valley. The faded colors of the inks used for the drawing make differentiating streams from mountains difficult at first glance. There probably were other copies of this map made for military purposes, but only one copy is known to have survived. It is likely it was produced under the auspices of Col. John Armstrong of Carlisle. He was both an experienced surveyor, very familiar with the area between Carlisle and Lewistown, and a military commander. The map, like everything else associated with the ill-fated fort Granville, was hastily prepared.

There were problems associated with this route. High water in the creeks in early 1756 made resupply difficult.^[10]In fact, supplying the fort was problematical at best and probably contributed to its downfall.^[11]

Disaster at Fort Granville

As Captain Jacob, an opposition war leader, asserted,^[12] any fort built of logs could be burned. Raiding parties hovered in the vicinity during July 1756, biding their time, unwilling to attempt an open attack on a manned fort armed with swivel guns. Late in July, the commander of the fort, Cpt. Edward turner, made a fatal mistake. He took a large part of his men to protect reapers in the Tuscarora Valley. Captain Jacob mounted an attack and Fort Granville was destroyed on July 26, 1756, with loss of life and many captives taken. When the news reached Carlisle and Philadelphia, the provincial authorities were horrified. A key manned fort at the center of the defense line no longer existed. The frontier crept ever nearer to Carlisle and the Cumberland Valley. The Fort Granville Road became one of a number of crowded escape routes as frontier families raced to safety. Fort Granville was never replaced; only the road carrying the Fort Granville name remained.^[13]

After 1756

By 1757, the frontier was repopulated. The Fort Granville Road was still the shortest and safest route to the middle Juniata Basin. Francis West and his brother-in-law, Hermanus Alricks, both of them justices of the Cumberland County court, resumed their alternate careers as land speculators. Settlers poured over the mountains into the fertile valleys and money poured into the West and Alricks coffers.

In 1763, active warfare during the “War for Empire” returned with what is known as “Pontiac’s Rebellion.” Raiding parties streamed down Logan’s Path from the Great Island. Raiding occurred as close as ten miles from Carlisle. The frontier was a very risky place to be and settlers from Shermans, Tuscarora, and Licking Creek Valleys fled over the Fort Granville Road.

Once again, Col. John Armstrong was pressed into service. The “Susquehanna Campaign” began. In August 1763, Armstrong gathered a force of volunteers to advance to the Great Island and eradicate the Native American village. This would effectively block raiders from using Logans’ Path and its extension, the Fort Granville Road. His force of about 200 men spent the first night of the expedition at “Charley Mount,”, now Alinda in Perry County, one days march from Carlisle. They used the old path to descend upon the Great Island, ^[14]only to find it forewarned and deserted. After burning and destroying whatever they could find, Col. Armstrong and his men returned to Carlisle, using the fastest way over Logans Path and the Fort Granville Road.

1766 – Rev. Charles Beatty

In August of this year, the Rev. Charles Beatty came to Carlisle and conferred with Col. John Armstrong for several days. Then accompanied by Rev. George Duffield and a Christian Native American, Joseph Peepys , he set off from Carlisle on what was described as a missionary tour of the far frontier, to preach to isolated settlements, and assess their progress toward forming Presbyterian congregations. However, things were not quite what they seemed. Joseph Peepys was not just an “interpreter”. He was, in fact, an experienced negotiator and “go-between”. Rev. Beatty had several years’ experience as a military chaplain during the War for Empire 1755-1756. He just “happened” to meet Levi Hicks a few days into the trek. Hicks was a former Indian captive only recently repatriated. He could be relied on to provide Rev. Beatty with numbers, village locations in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and assess the fighting strength remaining in the tribes.^[15]

Rev. Beatty spent time visiting the sites of the ill-fated Forts Bingham and Granville and talking with survivors. He did not, however, inform the Presbyterian congregation at Fort Robinson (near Loysville in Perry County) that he was coming, so they did not have time to marshal their facts and arguments to give to an official from the Presbytery.

The trio set off from Carlisle on a hot August day and were compelled to walk their horses up the broiling south face of Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, arriving hot and bothered at Ross’ fording of Shermans Creek, now Bridgeport. They avoided the long hot climb up Tuscarora Mountain by taking a detour through Liberty Valley so they could stop at the site of Fort Bingham near Tuscarora Creek, which had been destroyed a few days before Fort Granville. Then they were on and off the road as they toured the area, this time making a scheduled stop in the Academia/Spruce Hill area to assess the readiness of the nascent Lower Tuscarora Presbyterian congregation.

1768 Road Petition

The uneasy peace brought more settlers into the Tuscarora Valley as well as returning previously dispossessed families. Backed by land speculators West and Alricks, a road petition was duly presented to the Cumberland county Court asking for an urgently needed road from Mr. Alrick’s plantation near Charley Mount to the Long Narrows. ^[16] The destruction of Fort Granville had made unnecessary the section from Tuscarora Creek to the Juniata River at Ohesson. The old path was partially abandoned around the end of Shade Mountain and across Licking Creek, the new route headed for the Juniata River between Mexico and Port Royal. The ferries at the Mouth of the Juniata were feeding trains of settlers up the old Juniata River road to the interior valleys – Ferguson, Big, Penns, Brush, Nittany, Sugar, and even beyond the Allegheny Front.

A road of sorts had been forced through the Long Narrows. In addition, West and Alricks had saleable land in the Lost Creek area of Juniata County and Mifflin County and a road was needed for access. The Fort Granville Road never quite died; it became county and township byways for the expanding Perry, Juniata, and Mifflin counties.

In piecemeal fashion, the old Fort Granville Road was repurposed. In Perry County the section across Peach Ridge was laid out as a county road. On the other side of Big Buffalo Creek, the local inhabitants declared that since a road was complete through Run Gap on Tuscarora Mountain, it should be connected with the Big Buffalo ford at Spriggle Hollow. After the Revolutionary War, the brand new state of Pennsylvania got involved and State Route 74 evolved.

The old path and its history were largely forgotten in Cumberland and Perry counties. Professor Abraham Guss, tapped to write sections of the “History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys” in the 1880s tried to keep the memory of the old road alive. 120 years on, it seems his work was in vain. A few families whose ancestral lands adjoined the road recall it began as an Indian path. But even they have forgotten why the trail was studded with massive white oak trees. P. 2 tree here These huge 250 to 300 hundred year old broad crowned trees were “marker” or “trail” trees planted in road side openings and assured the traveler they were still on the correct route.

Route and Remains of the Road.

Cumberland County.

It appears the fort Granville-Logans Path Road was totally forgotten in Cumberland County. As Judith Ridner pointed out in “A Town In-Between”, after the War for Empire time period, trade routes from Carlisle were concentrated on west route to Fort Pitt and the Ohio Valley, or southwest down the Great Valley to Kentucky and Tennessee. The fur producing areas north of Carlisle were no longer a great value.^[17]

In his “Old Roads of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania,” J. D. Hemminger^[18] shows the predecessor of SR 74 crossing Hurley’s (Waggoner’s) Gap into Cumberland County. This road continued through Carlisle and left it via a road leading to York. This is consistent with the Conoy Path heading southeast toward York Haven and the Susquehanna River. It is likely the Conoy Path is the western and northern extension of the Great Minqua Path, making it a major Native American passageway.^[19]

Even Rev. William T. Swaim overlooked the old Fort Granville Road and assumed the only exit from Carlisle to the north was the New Path or Traders’ Path via Sterrett’s Gap. In discussing the 1766 missionary trip, he assumed they followed the New Path into Shermans Valley to the Ross fording (Bridgeport) where they stayed overnight. Not only is this route considerably longer, it requires leaving the New Path and back tracking to the south. The Fort Granville Road goes directly to the old ford; an important consideration on a hot August day when the party left Carlisle in the afternoon.^[20]

The name may have been forgotten, but the route was not. A notice for a property for sale in 1791 between Mifflintown and Lewistown includes a mention of the road.

“A ferry, tavern, and smith shops kept in the Long Narrows for the accommodations of travelers and much the nearest road from Carlisle to Lewistown…”^[21]

The 1872 Atlas of Cumberland County^[22] shows the “Hurley’s Gap Road” entering Carlisle from the northwest at Liberty Street (now W. Penn) at a point a half block north of the corner of W. North and N. West Streets. The route through the borough has long since been lost under later streets and avenues.

Traces of the “old State road”, now SR 74, from Carlisle to Waggoners Gap are the only traces left in the County. The building shown at the foot of Blue/Kittatinny Mountain on the 1756 map has long been replaced by the stone 1813 Waggoners Tavern. No name was attached to this building yet it existed in 1755, No record of any other owners than the Waggoner family appears in the county records and the first Waggoner tavern keeper of record was in possession in 1795. ^[23]

From the Waggoner Tavern the road begins its ascent. Just past the North Mountain Inn, a piece of the old pack horse track can be seen on the left with its characteristic U-shaped hollow.

From the top of the mountain the west end of Shermans Valley can be seen spread out before the traveler. Charley Mount is visible from here; a small conical hill beside the old track. Perry County begins at the crest of the ridge.

Perry County

Even though the path has no tricky turns and the traveler of 200 or 300 years ago had a far better internal compass than his modern counterpart, the path was lined at 1.5 or 2 mile intervals by white oak trees, a few of which survive. The broad crowned tree grew in openings or groves along the path. They may have been blazed or painted; now their size makes them unusual. An unknown number of such trees persist in Perry County; somehow they escaped road widening or storm and lightening damage over several hundred years. The openings along Native American paths and grasslands were regularly fired to keep them clear of underbrush and smaller trees. White oaks are not normally damaged by such fires. However, these fires altered the lower trunk of the tree, making them worthless for timber. ^[24]Now they are simply too large to remove.

Two miles from the crest of Kittatinny/Blue Mountain, the first marker tree stands on the east side of the road. (5292 Waggoners Gap Road). Another two miles is the former Ross Fording at Bridgeport. Charley Mount is the next landmark at Alinda. P.2 Charley Mount

The name “Charley Mount” was very puzzling until an on-site visit revealed the nature of the landmark, a small, conical hill visible from the south and west for some distance. But who was Charley? Charles is not a name frequently found among settlers of any nationality. However, a mention of “Charles Stewart’s heirs” regarding a piece of property very close to Alinda gives a clue to the original Charley. Now this 800 foot hillock is called “Spotts’ Knob” after a later owner.^[25]

Alinda marks the intersection of two ancient passageways; the New Path and the Fort Granville Road. It was probably the site of a Native American settlement or a “Sleeping place”. Certainly Col. Armstrong and his troop of volunteers used it as a sleeping or camping spot! From Alinda, the road/path proceeds northwest, skirting the Mahanoy Hills. It runs straight and keeps its level.

Another massive white oak marker crowns the low ridge where Kistler Road intersects SR 74. On the north side of the little ridge the track of the old road can be seen in the hayfield below the roadway. The annoying turns in the road did not exist in the 18^th century.P. 4 Kennedy tree

From the intersection of SRs 74 and 274, the Fort Granville Road is unclear, but most likely crossed the rather low and wet lands between the West Perry School District property and SR 74. Crossing Briner Road at the foot of Limestone Ridge, the old road climbed the ridge in a gently curving arc. This is most different from the present awkward shoot up the ridge by SR 74 slightly to the west.

The “new” road swings to the west and climbs straight up the short but steep south facing scarp of Limestone Ridge, rising 180 feet vertically resulting in a 12% grade. The grade was far worse before the earthen ramp was built at the base of the ridge. Normal grades are 5% or less, so this rerouting is problematical and required special permission. However, following the old route a half mile east, the climb over Limestone Ridge is handled differently. This route goes higher by 60 feet, but makes the climb in two sections resulting in an overall grade of 9.5%. It is still steep, but there are not many options for crossing Limestone Ridge. Prehistoric routes in other parts of the world also favor an easier climb even if it entails a slightly higher and longer route.^[26]

It is quite likely another white oak marker stood on top of Limestone ridge. They were about two miles apart and on the highest ground around, easily visible in their clearings. Possibly the marker in this ridge succumbed to clearing, disease, storm, or just old age many years ago.

This path crosses ridges and valleys instead of following them; Pleasant Valley and Erly/Little Buffalo Valley are next. A stream provides one of the very few “flat gaps” between these two narrow valleys. The road climbs one of the south facing “fingers” of the Peach Ridge massif and follows the watershed across it to Spriggle Hollow. The pack horse road successor to the path shot down Spriggle Hollow on a steep grade, later modified for four wheeled traffic. Stages of the old Rice Coach line used this route for many years and the last section before Big Buffalo Creek must have been exciting downhill and arduous uphill.

At the fording of Big Buffalo Creek there were several mills at early dates. They have disappeared, leaving only the tell-tale teasel growing in the creek side meadows. From the ford, the road approached Tuscarora Mountain and the village of Ickesburg. Well preserved stretches of the old road can be followed on foot on either side of SR 74 crossing Tuscarora Mountain. On the south face, the old road bed is below the modern road, close to a run that must have played havoc with the road in flood. In addition, a characteristic U-shaped section of the pack horse track can be seen on the east side of the modern road at the last curve below the ridge top. On the north side the old road can be seen below the hairpin curve as it turns to the north to follow the run down through the gap.

The ridge crossing is known as the “Run Gap” trail named for the gap and run on the north side of the mountain. From the top of Tuscarora Mountain, the last stretch is in sight; across the valley to the end of Shade Mountain, over the Blue Mountain on the far side of Licking Creek and down Granville Gap Run to the Juniata River opposite the site of the fort.

There are two places of great interest shown on the map in the Juniata County section. One is “Stewart’s Fort” slightly to the west of the Run Gap Road and “Sheasley” near Walnut. Professor Guss identified the Stewart site as the former Chambers property on Mill Lane, just at the northwest side of the “Half Moon” loop of Tuscarora Creek.^[27] He does not mention fortifications at either site; fortified farmsteads might be a better description. In view of the attacks in the area in 1756, and later in 1763, such refuges were necessary. Another mystery is the Stewart connection between Charley Mount and the Stewart Fort. Was it the same family, and did they move along the route of the old path?

Run Gap, Center, and Overhill Roads follow the track. Overhill Road ends at a still usable ford on Tuscarora Creek. From there the old road threaded its way through the Herringbone Ridges and around the shoulder of Shade Mountain just beyond Walnut . Fording Licking Creek near Professor Guss’ home in the vicinity of Martin’s Crossroads, the last of the mountain ridges is just ahead.

An 1813 map of the area was located at the Juniata County Historical Society. The Fort Granville Road had not been forgotten at that time. Several stretches of it are clearly shown, and identified as such. The last stretch over the Blue Mountain became a county road about this time, but the grade was so steep Professor Guss doubted many drivers risked their teams and rigs on it.

Mifflin County

This is the shortest stretch of the road and runs downhill from the county boundary at the top of Blue Mountain to the Juniata River. Although not a deep river, the Juniata was the most formidable stream crossed by the Fort Granville Road. The fort on the north shore, about a mile west of Kishacoquillas Creek and the Buchanan trading post/settlement, must have been a welcome sight. The building of the Juniata Division of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1829, is thought to have destroyed the fort site. Rev. Charles Beatty was shown the spring and site, owned by the Holt family, during his 1766 visit. The commercial section of Lewistown has been built and rebuilt since 1756 and it is doubtful any trace of the doomed fort remains.

Summary

Destroyed within six months of its erection, and all traces obliterated by canal and road construction, Fort Granville gets only brief mention in the historic record. Its site, like that of Fort Robinson near Centre Presbyterian Church in Perry County, or Stewart’s Fort on Tuscarora Creek, were dropped from mainstream awareness to become an item of intense interest for local historians.

But unlike flammable log forts, roads do not disappear so easily or so totally. Traces persist on the surface of the land where not erased by further road building. The once strategically important passageway declined with the years to local-use roads, and later to vacated county or township roads. Some sections were rebuilt as forestry roads in the new State Forests after 1900. Long stretches of the Fort Granville Road still exist in their 1800’s form as a “built” road, the rocks scraped to one side and some elementary grading done. 16 to 30 feet wide, these roads were intended for wheeled traffic. The 18 inch wide original path disappeared under the pack horse road and it is likely there is no extant trace of the Native American path. We know where it went, but not its name.

The Fort Granville Road, like many other historic roads on Cumberland, Perry, Juniata, and Mifflin Counties remained in use, or at least passable, until about 1950 under various names. As motorized vehicles became larger and heavier, the deteriorating old road beds could not bear their weight. Local authorities did not have the money or inclination to keep them open and so they were “vacated”. Unfortunately, over the years the memory of these once vital roads was “vacated” as well.

This road, born of an emergency, is the “first” road of Perry, Juniata, and Mifflin Counties. Actually it was first only in the sense it was erected by Europeans, but based on a Native American long distance passageway. For unknown centuries it was used by the Native American populace and later became a route to the interior valleys for the licensed (and unlicensed) traders who continually pushed the legal limits. Then it was co-opted for military purposes by the provincial government. Disaster ended its military usefulness very quickly.

All roads must have an economic reason to exist; the land speculators of the Juniata Basin wanted the road to access their saleable lands. In the expanding post-Revolutionary War economy, roads such as this were vital to move people and produce. With time the roads was repurposed gradually becoming byways and forestry roads, and much long and vital history was lost in the process. However, the Fort Granville Road, under new names, can still be studied and enjoyed.