Kitaôwdi: the Great Road

There's a word for that: "kitaôwdi"

kitaôwdi [Western Abenaki] kee-TAH-ohn-dee - main road, great road, main trail

What serves as US Route 5, passing through Guilford, Brattleboro (as Main Street), Putney, and Westminster to points north is - in large part - the path of the ancient Great River Road. A well-travelled Native footpath on the west side of the Kwenitekw/CT River, it has been traversed by countless travelers for millennia, from Sobagw/Atlantic Ocean, toward Kchitekw/St. Lawrence River.

Think about that next time you walk down the sidewalk...

In the words of Mary Rogers Cabot, Brattleboro’s primary early historian (Annals of Brattleboro 1681-1895, Volume 1).

Early view north upriver, from Prospect Hill (Brattleboro Historical Society).