Bay Road

This two-mile section of Bay Road in Easton, Massachusetts, is the best-preserved part of an old route that ran from Boston to Taunton. The road began as an Indian path, later known as the Post Road and the King's Highway, and it served early inland settlers who needed to reach mills on the Neponset River and the town of Boston. While most of the thirty-six mile road has been greatly altered, this stretch has kept its direction and character for more than 250 years. Maps and deeds, some dating to 1717, place it where it runs today. Along it are colonial buildings such as the Keith House, the Benjamin Williams Tavern and the Thomas Manley House, plus nineteenth-century and later homes, two milestones dated 1773, and the John Williams Cemetery with stones from 1739. Stone walls, trees and open land give the road a rural, continuous appearance.