Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Southampton Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
At Shippensburg, the Raystown Path forked: one branch led directly west over three steep mts. to Burnt Cabins; the other, taken by General Forbes to avoid heavy grades, went south round Parnells Knob to Fort Loudon, crossing the Tuscarora Mountain at Cowan Gap.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
At Shippensburg the old Raystown Path split, and in 1758 General John Forbes had to choose his army's line of march west. One branch climbed directly over three steep mountains toward Burnt Cabins; Forbes instead took the southern fork around Parnells Knob to Fort Loudon, crossing the Tuscarora Mountain at Cowan Gap to avoid the punishing grades. The choice shaped where his military road—and later settlement—would run.
Why it matters
These wilderness paths and the decisions made along them determined the routes of westward travel, turning an Indian trading trail into the spine of frontier Pennsylvania.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Appalachian Trail Museum10.1 mi away
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Related people
- · John Forbes
Related events
- · French and Indian War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Carlisle, PA · est. 1952
In 1758, during the French and Indian War, General John Forbes set out from his base at Carlisle to seize Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio. Rather than follow Braddock's ill-fated earlier route, Forbes drove a new road westward, keeping as close as army wagons allowed to the old Raystown Indian and Traders Path. Axemen under Colonel Henry Bouquet widened the trail into a military road that ended with the French abandoning and burning the fort.
Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Dublin Township, PA · est. 1952
The Raystown Path was one of the great Indian trails threading the Allegheny ridges of central Pennsylvania, and in 1758 it became a corridor of war. During the French and Indian War, General John Forbes cut a military road westward toward the French stronghold at the forks of the Ohio, throwing up a chain of forts to guard his slow, methodical advance. The towns strung along his line of march — Littleton, Bedford, Ligonier, and finally Pittsburgh — still carry the names of those wilderness garrisons.
Braddock Expedition
Shippensburg, PA · est. 1961
In 1755, as General Edward Braddock's army marched toward the French at Fort Duquesne, supplies for the expedition were stockpiled in Edward Shippen's stout stone house at Shippensburg. His son-in-law James Burd cut a road westward to move those provisions toward the front. After Braddock's crushing defeat, the goods that remained were handed out to settlers fleeing Indian raids along the exposed Pennsylvania frontier.
Fort Chambers
Chambersburg, PA · est. 1947
In 1756, as the French and Indian War set the frontier ablaze, pioneer landowner Col. Benjamin Chambers fortified his house and mill with a stockade and cannon for defense against Native raids. Chambers had settled at this junction of waters years earlier and founded the town that still bears his name. His fortified homestead anchored one of the exposed western settlements during the war's dangerous years.