The old Chenango Road

By Donald A. Windsor

Deputy Historian, Chenango County

What is now Chenango County was once crisscrossed with Indian trails; some of which later became roads. A trail is usually a pedestrian path whereas a road is wide and dry enough to also accommodate vehicles. Oxcarts and wagons are vehicles and many of them undoubtedly traveled on trails, so the distinction is fuzzy. In general, vehicles damage trails. They damage roads too, but not as rapidly nor as badly.

According to James H. Smith in his “History of Chenango County”, page 85, the old Chenango Road stretched between Bainbridge and the mouth of Page Brook, which is three and a half miles downstream of Chenango Forks, the confluence of the Tioughnioga and Chenango rivers. Page Brook originates in the highlands of Greene and Coventry and flows southwest into Broome County, Town of Fenton. It forms the eastern border of Chenango Valley State Park. The Chenango Road passed through what are now the towns of Greene, Coventry, and Bainbridge.

Smith says that many pioneers located along Chenango Road. In 1792, the “growth of timber” (counting annual rings of trees growing in the road) indicated that the road was opened about 15 or more years earlier. That would mean it was cleared in 1777 or earlier. The Revolutionary War raged from 1775 to 1783, so this road was built in the first quarter of the war.

Smith confesses that no one really knows who built the Chenango Road but after consulting DeWitt Clinton and William L. Marcy, he attributes it to a detachment of Major General John Sullivan’s army commanded by Brigadier General James Clinton. Marcy said that the road was paid for by the state. DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828) was the son of General James Clinton (1733-1812) and was twice Governor of New York. William Learned Marcy (1786-1857) was State Comptroller from 1823 to 1829 and trice Governor from 1833 to 1838. He is the namesake of Mount Marcy.

General Sullivan did not receive his command until March 6, 1779, and General Clinton was ordered to join him on May 24 that same year. So this means that Clinton could not have built the road in 1777 as a detachment of Sullivan. Perhaps either the tree ring count was faulty or Clinton built the road prior to joining Sullivan or Clinton did not build the road. Perhaps someone else did.