No one really considers highways historical places but I think Route 579 is one. I think it is the most historic place in Franklin Township because it was an Indian trail before the white settlers even came to New Jersey. It was called the Malayelick Path. The Lenni-Lenape Indians used it to travel from village to village. It started in Trenton and went north through the present day towns of Ringoes, Croton, Quakertown, Pittstown and on to Easton, Pennsylvania. The trail was only 2 to 3 feet wide. The Indians walked single file on the trails so they would not disturb much vegetation.

When the white settlers came, they began widening the trail so horses, carts and wagons could travel on them. The settlers cut down trees to do this. They filled the gullies along side the trail with trees. They laid logs across the streams and creeks to make bridges. The Malayelick trail became one of the major routes of the first settlers. The settlers used the trail to take their corn to the mills and their produce to market. During the first half of the 1900's there was a stagecoach that came from Trenton and went to Pittstown. During the 1900's, the roads where paved.

Perhaps, Quakertown wouldn't even be Quakertown if it was not for the Malayelick Path. As the Quakers moved northward, the Malayelick trail was one of their major routes. Quakertown was settled by the English around 1700-1730. Without the Indian trail to follow, they may have gone somewhere else. If that had happened, many of our oldest buildings and farms may have been built somewhere else. This is why I think the Malayelick trail is the most historic place in Franklin Township.