Forbes Road at the Raystown Path Fork

At Shippensburg, the colonial road system branched in two directions, and the choice of route shaped the outcome of a war. The Raystown Path, one of the most important Indigenous and trader trails in Pennsylvania, split here: one branch cut directly west over three steep mountain ridges toward Burnt Cabins; the other swung south around a prominence called Parnell's Knob, heading to Fort Loudon before crossing the Tuscarora Mountain at Cowan Gap. In seventeen fifty-eight, General John Forbes chose the southern route for his famous military road to Fort Duquesne, the French stronghold at present-day Pittsburgh.

Forbes wanted to avoid the brutal grades of the direct western path. His road-building campaign succeeded, and the French abandoned Fort Duquesne before he even arrived. The route Forbes chose became a template for later Pennsylvania roads.

The ground near this marker was the hinge point of that decision.