Washington’s Trail annual summit returns
PENN TWP — Driving through Butler County, you may come across signs for “Washington’s Trail,” marking spots where George Washington set foot during his trip through the northern colonies in 1753.
Butler County — or rather, what eventually became Butler County — played an important part in the life of our country’s first president. This is why the Washington’s Trail group chooses the Butler Country Club as its meeting place for its annual summit, which took place this year on Thursday, April 18.
“(Butler is) kind of a central meeting place for people,” said Martin O’Brien, who founded Washington’s Trail. “We have people coming down from Erie, from Meadville, from Pittsburgh, from Cumberland, Maryland — so this is a central location.”
The Washington’s Trail 1753 foundation was formed in 2000 to commemorate the story of Washington’s travels through Western Pennsylvania, including Butler County, from 1753 to 1754. According to O’Brien, Washington was passing through on his way to Erie, on a diplomatic mission from the governor of colonial Virginia.
“He had gone up from Williamsburg, Virginia, on orders of the governor of Virginia to tell the French to vacate this part of Pennsylvania, because they were coming down from Canada and trying to make this part of New France,” O’Brien said.
According to O’Brien, one notable event during Washington’s travels through Butler County was a confrontation with a Native American, which almost turned fatal. After a tense encounter in what is now Forward Township, a Native American took a shot at Washington from 15 feet away, but missed.
“Fortunately for the United States of America, and the world, Washington survived,” O’Brien said.
Throughout the afternoon, multiple historical experts and re-enactors spoke on not just Washington’s life, but the lives of those around him and the history of colonial America. The annual summit has become a gathering place for local history buffs such as Daniel Slezak.
“I've been coming to this event for quite a few years now,” Slezak said. “I think I've been to six of these now, just for historical knowledge.”
“I have always been interested in American history, so it wasn’t a difficult task to get me to come,” said Roger DeYoung.
One of the speakers was Don Teter, a licensed surveyor in West Virginia. On Thursday, Teter came to the podium as someone else, role-playing as Edward Corder, who assisted Washington during his days as a surveyor in colonial Pennsylvania.
“Some people have criticized young Washington’s surveying work,” said Teter, in character as Corder. “I was pleased to have the opportunity to work with him, and found him to be a well-educated and respectful young man, with sometimes a few rough edges, as a young man will have.”
The first speaker of the day, Brian Reedy, received particularly high marks from the audience. Reedy, the site manager at Fort Necessity in Farmington, opened with a presentation on Washington’s many trips over the Appalachian Range throughout his life.
“We always just hear about George Washington,” said Laura DeYoung. “So to hear about all of his support services was interesting.”
Throughout the day, visitors had the chance to purchase books and other memorabilia related to both Washington and the colonial era, including author Jason Cherry’s recently released book “Factor of Ambition,” a biography on the influential backcountry merchant William Trent.
Cherry first found out about Trent’s story through his French and Indian War re-enactment group “Captain William Trent's Company.”
“That's what got me at a young age finding out more and more about Trent,” Cherry said. “And the more I realized how much people don't know about him was what led me to write the biography.”
