The Old Bay Road, Easton

Running through what is now Easton, Massachusetts, the Old Bay Road is one of the oldest traveled corridors in New England. Before any English colonist set foot here, it was an Indigenous trail connecting the peoples of Massachusetts Bay with those of Narragansett Bay to the southwest. After colonization, it became the first post road in Easton, carrying mail and messages between the two bay settlements.

The Bay Road Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a recognition that this particular strip of ground has been in use for a very long time. In an era when most roads follow the logic of automobiles, the Old Bay Road follows the logic of people walking through a forest, and the path it traces reflects a geography that existed long before any map was drawn.