I work in a teeny little Bucks County town about 32 miles north of where I live in Philly; my commute takes me about 65 minutes (mostly because I’m driving in the opposite direction from most of the traffic). Said teeny little town dates back to the late 18th century – how long would it have taken to get from here to, say, Independence Hall (probably 40 miles) at that time? A day? More? Less?
George Washington’s inaugural journey from Mt. Vernon to New York City, a distance of about 220 miles, took seven days.
A 40-mile trip would have been a long day’s travel, but doable because the roads in that area were comparatively good.
Going west from Philadelphia over the far worse roads in the back country would slow you down so much that doing 40 miles in two days would have been a good pace.
A horse can go roughly go 40 mph for about 10 miles. So, with 4 horses (like the Pony Express system), you could go 40 miles in um…
Average walking speed is about 3-4 miles an hour, trotting speed for a horse is about 8 miles an hour.
Colonial times? It’s been about the same all throughout history until the advent of the railroad in the 19th century, then the auto in the 20th. Despite all the other advances, travel times by land remained about the same for millenia.
Good point – but the rumination that started this was the fact that damn one of the few businesses in this teeny town is an old inn – founded originally about 250 years ago. I was wondering who would have stayed there then – it sounds like it might have been people about one day out from Philly.
Thanks for the info, Exapno, Cap’n, et al.!
While this is true, it’s not easy to do 40 mile in 10 hours.
There was a fad when Kennedy was in office of making 20 mile hikes.
I did one and couldn’t walk for a couple of days afterward.
I just read a book on the French and Indian War.
In the 1750s there was a colonial convention in Philly. I believe the book said 20 miles was considered the average daily travel for delegates.
I live in a suburb about 25 miles west of Chicago. Still standing is an inn from the mid 1800s. My understanding was that it was considered a day’s journey from Chi.
In Jersey there is an old road called King’s Highway. It has been chopped up in places, superseded by highways in others but it was a route from Red Bank to NYC via a Ferry in Hudson County. I believe the Weehawken Ferry. This is about 46.5 miles. The travel time by fast coach was 2 days to Manhattan and 3-4 for wagons.
Sailing from Red Bank to NYC would take 1-4 days.
I am pulling both figures from memory. I believe I have seen them in multiple references, but all pointing back to the source, “History of Old Monmouth”.
Jim
It depends on how flat the land is and how good the trails are. As a boy scout during the Carter administration I used to hike a lot. 20 miles a day in the mountains was really pushing ourselves but doable for a dozen 13 year old boys. Like you, we would lay around camp all the next day and the scoutmaster would lay around camp for the next 3 days.
20 miles on decent roads (i.e. no mountains) without much luggage is pretty doable if you’re in shape. By that I don’t mean ‘peak athlete’, but just someone 7 to 70 who walks a lot. Maybe you couldn’t do 20 miles every single day for a month, but once you’re in shape, being able to walk the next day wouldn’t be a problem. Add luggage and mountains and your sustainable milage goes down of course.
That is a key factor.
I recall another book I read about colonial times - maybe it was a Ben Franklin bio when he became postmaster.
I forget the exact number, but the total mileage of improved roads prior to the revolution was ridiculously miniscule. For some reason “50 miles” is sticking in my mind, but I don’t know if that was 50 miles throughout the colonies, New England, or maybe a single colony such as Mass or Penn (where Franklin lived).
Sounds like the 40 miles was probably more like two days’ travel, then – although we’re pretty well directly north of Philly, and on a road that I’m sure dates back almost that long, the terrain is quite hilly, and the land still being cleared for farming at that point.
A good source of information regarding that area, perhaps specific to the inn referenced would be the Michener Library adjacent to the Mercer Museum in Doylestown-it’s on Pine Street. Check for hours if you’d like to go after work-they are open late one or two evening a week, I think.
Shagnasty posted this in an incorrect thread, but it pretty clearly belongs here, so here you go:
From Shagnasty:
I always wondered the same thing and think about it a lot. My house is about 250 years old an about 35 miles outside of Boston which is about the same deal. My road is the original colonial road just paved over and George Washington was said to have visited here. It must have taken a really long time.
My additional question:
How did they navigate long journeys? It must have been a huge mess of roads and trails to do long distance travel. Who understood the big picture well enough to get anywhere remotely far away?
Thanks Jodi. Not sure how I managed that.
Depends on what you mean by “improved,” I suppose. Do you mean paved (after some fashion)? That’s the only way that number could make sense.
There were long roads in that era, such as the Great Wagon Road, stretching from Philadelphia to Augusta, Georgia (a major route for settlers in that era). Here’s a map of major colonial routes.
When I was training for marathons, I used to **run ** 20 miles every Sunday. 
I’m always astonished at how far people in Colonial times went, both afoot and on horseback. In the book John Adams it was amazing how many times he traveled between Boston and Philly and elsewhere.
I’m sure the roadside taverns helped…
Excellent suggestion, dwc, I’ll follow through on that.