thirty miles to the northeast, the nearest contact with the outside
world, could be reached under favorable conditions only after a five-or
six-hour stagecoach trip. In the 1840’s coaches were advertised as
leaving Hamilton at 5:30 in the morning, arriving at Utica at 11:00,
leaving Utica at 3:00 in the afternoon, and returning to Hamilton at
9:00 in the evening. However, if road conditions were bad, the trip
might take as much as eleven hours. One-way fare was $1.00 and that
for a round trip the same day $1.75, prices high enough to discourage
all but those who had weighty reasons for travel. Once strangers
reached Hamilton, the village green, the wide street which circled it
Beech Grove, the Conant home
Picture of Beech Grove