A major Indian path from the Forks of the Ohio, Pittsburgh, to Venango, Franklin, ran just west of here. George Washington used it while traveling north to Fort Le Boeuf in 1753. Captain Jonathan Hart widened the path in 1787 on his way to build Fort Franklin. At Mayes Forks, the house on the northwest corner became a major hotel and a mail and stagecoach stop during the early nineteenth century.