The above coordinates are for parking and the trail head.
In the mid 1700’s Pennsylvania and other colonies were plagued by recurring wars against the French and their Indian allies. In response, Britain’s ministers asked each colony to send delegates to a conference in Albany, New York, in June of 1754. They would have the mission of creating a more unified colonial defense. Only seven of the colonies accepted the invitation, and most of those that did instructed their delegates to avoid any colonial unification. Benjamin Franklin on the other hand was always eager to foster more unity. On May 9, 1754 the Pennsylvania Gazette published an editorial written by Franklin in which he blamed the French success “on the present disunited state of the British colonies.” Next to the article he printed the first and most famous editorial cartoon in American history “Join, or Die.”
Franklin was appointed to be one of the commissioners at the Albany Conference. He carried with him a paper he had written proposing the union of the northern colonies. At its core was a somewhat new concept that became known as federalism. The delegates approved the plan and sent it to the colonial assemblies as well as to British Parliament for approval. The plan was rejected by both, the colonies thought it took much power away from the individual colony, Parliament thought it gave too much democratic power to voters in the colonies.
Looking back on it near the end of his life, Franklin was convinced that if The Albany Plan had been accepted it may have prevented the American Revolution and created a harmonious empire. Ironically the cartoon became a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolutionary War, it was also recreated and used by both sides during Civil War.
A Weetamoo Woods & Pardon Gray Preserve trail map can be found here.
