Newbury founder Gen. Jacob Bayley (1726–1815) conceived, planned, laid out, and financed a shorter military route to Canada, presenting his plan to Gen. George Washington on Nov. 24, 1775. On Washington's orders, Bayley began the road in the spring of 1776, but after 26 mi. work halted until 1779, when Washington ordered Col. Moses Hazen and Col. Timothy Bedel to report to Bayley and continue the road about 26 mi. farther northwest to Hazen's Notch, now Westfield, VT. Thos. Johnson, Frye Bayley, Abial and Silas Chamberlain, John McLean, and Native American "Indian Joe" surveyed the road for Gen. Bayley, and most are buried at Ox Bow Cemetery near Bayley.