Territorial Road

One of the three great east-west routes of pioneer days, the Territorial Road from Detroit to St. Joe tapped the rich lands of the second “tier” of counties. Approved in 1829, the road was not surveyed through Van Buren County until 1835. Although at first it was only a “blaze and a name,” the route soon was teeming with emigrants and travelers. The Dodge Tavern in Paw Paw, a famed stopping point, was so crowded at times that some weary persons, old-timers said, “offered a dollar for a post to lean against.”