At one time Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, consisted of 15,000 square miles. The “Mother of All Counties” saw twenty-nine others carved from it. Established in 1772, between the years 1775 and 1813, it was reduced to its current size of 470 square miles.

Medical Doctor W.J. McKnight, who later represented Jefferson and Indiana Counties in the state Senate, wrote a history of Jefferson County and says the first trail carved out by white men in county, were from Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

McKnight, in his 1898 book, “A Pioneer History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania” reported:

“From a most careful and thorough search to ascertain when the first path or trail of the white man was made through or in what is now our county, I find it to be in the year 1787. In this year of grace two hardy and courageous men, David and John Meade, were living in what is now Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where John was keeping an inn or tavern. These two brothers having read General George Washington's report to Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, of the rich lands and valleys that were unoccupied in what is now called Venango and Crawford Counties, Pennsylvania, determined to explore that region for themselves. To reach this uninhabited section they were compelled to open a path from east to west, through what is now called Jefferson County, then Northumberland County, and which path is now called in history " Meade's Trail. "

This trail passed through what are now West Reynoldsville, Port Barnett, and Brookville. Fired with the zeal and energy of youth, David and John Meade blazed their way through this wilderness, over or through streams and across hills until they reached a broad valley upon whose bosom now reposes the city of Meadville. Being pleased with the valleys and hills, these two brothers returned to Sunbury over their trail in the spring of 1788, only to invite and bring with them in the same year, over the same trail, to the rich valleys they had found, the following-named friends and neighbors: Thomas Martin, John Watson, James F. Randolph, Thomas Grant, Cornelius Van Horn, and Christopher Snyder.

These men, with their goods packed on four horses, passed through where Brookville now is in 17S8, and settled in and around what is now Meadville, then Allegheny County.”

Until 1802, all transportation had to be carried into or through this wilderness area by packhorses on Meade’s Trail.

“A Pioneer History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania,” 1898 Dr. W.J. McKnight Pages 115-116

Photo Credit: “A Pioneer History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania”