Old Connecticut Path (Hartford Street)

Old Connecticut Path was a Native American trail that stretched from what is now Boston to the Connecticut Valley. Connecticut is an Algonquin word that roughly translates to "land of the long tidal river." The trail connected the Massachusett, Nipmuc, and Tunxis Tribes, and it was primarily used as a trading route. 

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Beginning in 1630, the English began to travel along the path in hopes of creating more settlements in Southern New England, as far south as the Connecticut Valley. Their southernmost settlement was in Hartford, and when the path was widened to make it a road, many names for the Path changed. It was referred to in many old maps as "Ye Hartford Traile," and subsequently the name of the Westwood street became "Hartford Street." It is likely that the path went through all of what is now the town of Westwood diagonally, whereas Hartford Street dead-ends into Route 109.