The Lost Road to Woodhill

Local historian Harry W. Van Horn wrote many interesting columns in the Newtown Enterprise on various local history topics. One of his favorite to write about was the "Lost Road to Woodhill".

The Lost road to Woodhill Outlined. Washington's Supply Line While on Jericho Mountain Now Township Line. Nov 25, 1943 Newtown Enterprise

One Sunday last February, before the spring thaw made walking difficult, I set out to retrace the lost road to Woodhill (The Eagle) from Ryan's Corner, 3 miles above Newtown, and about 1 mile below Wrightstown, on Route 113, a section of the old Durham road.

This forgotten road was Washington's supply life line during his last stand camp on Jericho Mountain before the battle of Trenton, in December 1776. My quest was successful beyond my hopes for its course is as straight as an arrow and its first half, northeast from Ryan's Corner towards Woodhill, is the boundary line of Wrightstown Township, at the start with Newtown Township and later with Upper Makefield. Just north of the Highland road, however, where the Wrightsown-Upper Makefield line turns north at right angles, the road ceases to be a township boundary but continues on the same straight line to Woodhill, down the great gulch, just north of Mount Canaan, the high knob on the Highland road, just west of the present Eagle road, at Yates' corner. Thus, anyone with a map of Bucks County, such as put out by the County Commissioners by putting a ruler on a line from Ryan's Corner to Woodhill, at the angle indicated by the Wrightstown Township line can trace it as accurately as I did, with much less effort.

A person tracing on the map, however, will miss the weird picture that the historic highway presents, a straight avenue, down a deep gorge, lined with massive trees, apparently going nowhere. Not far from its shadowy course was the last home of the Delaware Indians, and another spot was the rendezvous of the Tories, who made the foray on Newtown in 1781, to capture the County Treasury. Farther along the old road towards Woodhill stands the ruins of the old stone cottage, which was burned by the Tories during the Revolution, after their attack had been repulsed, and which is the basis of the legend of the Handless Tory of Caves Hollow.

Confused yet? VanHorn calls Wrightstown Road the Highland Road, which has no relation to today's Highland Rd. You'd have to know which farm was known as Mount Canaan, and which of Yates' corners he was talking about to pinpoint the path of the road. The public apparently was still confused too, as Harry wrote about the subject again just 3 months later.

The Lost Road to Woodhill - Located by Local Landmarks (By Harry W. VanHorn) Feb 3, 1944

Many people have asked me to locate the Lost Road to Woodhill, Washington’s supply lifeline during his Jericho camp, by better known local landmarks than township lines.  It may be a common failing of those writing local history to use such academic directions as township lines.  MacReynolds, in his 1942 “Place Names of Bucks County” describes Hough’s Creek, sometimes known as the “Aqueduct Creek”, “A small stream wholly in Upper Makefield.  It rises in the angle formed by the lines of Newtown and Wrightstown”.

Now this description probably means very little to the average person but if the source of Hough’s Creek is described as just south of Highland Road, west of Mount Canaan, it would be more readily understandable.  This also happens to be the exact place where the Lost Road crosses the Highland Road.  At the recent sale of the Ellis farm, one-half a mile above Woodhill, I heard several groups discussing the course of the Lost Road to Woodhill.  Some of the new owners of estates were hopeful that it curved around to go through their places, but this is impossible in the case of the Lost Road because its main virtue was that it was straight, taking the hills and dales as they came in stride and some of the drops, going in and coming out of Mount Canaan gorge, are precipitous.  The old road started on the Durham Road, at Ryan’s Corner; it started right where now is the home of Fred and Eleanor Cope, for their house, built by William Ryan after the Civil War, did not exist when the road was in use.  Then the old road followed the present Stoopville Road, passed the residence of the late Abdon Lee to the first turn; there it left the present road, going through the field of the Worthington chicken farm (recently Adam Bennethum) and across the meadow of Walter Sanders and through the newer part of his house, and then between his house and barn, and up his back lane until it leaves his land just south of the Highland Road.  Here a piece of the old road is still extant; an open cut, with grown up hedge rows, running almost to the Highland Road.  After crossing the Highland Road it enters the right-of-way to the Collet farm and this first part is also the lane to the former Twining homestead, now Rose Sheer’s.  When the Collet right-of-way reaches the woods, at the edge of the great gorge, the Lost Road leaves it and runs across the upper edge of the ravine, on what was formerly the Mount Canaan place, then for about a mile, down through the edge of the wooded gorge, coming out in the open at the far end of the former Harry Doan place, now Lewis’, it crosses the VanHorn homestead, owned by the late Pemberton VanHorn (now Dr. Fischer’s), near the historic revolutionary out post of Cave’s Hollow.  It then goes straight over the Hayhurst place (now E. T. Buckman’s), east of the buildings, to the former Spread Eagle Hotel, at Woodhill. 

Got that? Abdon Lee, the Worthington chicken farm, Walter Sanders' meadow?  Maybe they were local landmarks in 1944, but today they mean nothing. Maybe some aerials will help piece it together. There's enough evidence of the road left in 1937 that we can see its path. The aerial is split in two sections.

Start of the Lost Road to Woodhill

End of the Lost Road to Woodhill

Still having trouble? Here's a modern aerial with the lost road outlined on it. 

Modern Aerial Lost Road to Woodhill

We start at Ryan's Corner (Stoopville and Durham Rd) and draw a straight line that follows the township line across Wrightstown Rd (which VanHorn called Highland Rd.) From the corner of the Wrightstown/Upper Makefield Township line we go straight through to the Eagle (at the corner of Woodhill and Eagle Roads).

Now we've found the Lost Road to Woodhill. There's other interesting lore about the area, such as a forgotten graveyard and the ghost of Cavey's Hollow.