Heritage Atlas of Hastings County / Maps from the Heritage Atlas of Hastings County / Milestone Roads. From the earliest crude tracks through the forests to the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, roads have been essential to the development of Hastings County. Each of the roads marked on the accompanying map represents a distinct point in the evolution of road transportation through Hastings County. 1. Asa Danforth’s first road, through Prince Edward County, 1798. This road, from Kingston to York (Toronto), bypassed Hastings County in favour of a route through Prince Edward County which was more heavily populated. 2. Rough road built from Thurlow to Sidney, 1804. 3. Mail road from York to Kingston through Thurlow, 1816. Highway 2 later followed much of this route. 4. Early settlement roads, early to mid-1800s. These helped spread settlement northward from “The Front” along the Bay of Quinte. 5. Colonization roads: Hastings (5A), Peterson (5B), Monck (5C), 1850s. These roads were built as a government scheme to encourage settlement in the more remote parts of Eastern Ontario. 6. Highway 62 new, north of Madoc to L’Amable, was built in the 1930s. 7. Highway 7 was built as an alternative route to Highway 2 between Toronto and Ottawa. The all-new Perth to Madoc section, difficult to build in the Canadian Shield, was a major 1930s Depression-era employment project. 8. Link between Highways 2 and 7 creates shortest distance Toronto to Ottawa. 9. Four-lane Highway 401 (Macdonald-Cartier Freeway), 1950s.

Milestone Roads. From the earliest crude tracks through the forests to the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, roads have been essential to the development of Hastings County. Each of the roads marked on the accompanying map represents a distinct point in the evolution of road transportation through Hastings County. 1. Asa Danforth’s first road, through Prince Edward County, 1798. This road, from Kingston to York (Toronto), bypassed Hastings County in favour of a route through Prince Edward County which was more heavily populated. 2. Rough road built from Thurlow to Sidney, 1804. 3. Mail road from York to Kingston through Thurlow, 1816. Highway 2 later followed much of this route. 4. Early settlement roads, early to mid-1800s. These helped spread settlement northward from “The Front” along the Bay of Quinte. 5. Colonization roads: Hastings (5A), Peterson (5B), Monck (5C), 1850s. These roads were built as a government scheme to encourage settlement in the more remote parts of Eastern Ontario. 6. Highway 62 new, north of Madoc to L’Amable, was built in the 1930s. 7. Highway 7 was built as an alternative route to Highway 2 between Toronto and Ottawa. The all-new Perth to Madoc section, difficult to build in the Canadian Shield, was a major 1930s Depression-era employment project. 8. Link between Highways 2 and 7 creates shortest distance Toronto to Ottawa. 9. Four-lane Highway 401 (Macdonald-Cartier Freeway), 1950s.