Through this natural portal, a great tide of immigrants first entered the Whitewater Valley. On May 25th, 1803, Benjamin McCarty made the first land entry on this site in what would later become Franklin County. New Trenton, platted in 1816, became an important point on the old Whitewater Canal. The Rockafellar and Manwarring Taverns were very popular in the early 19th century, and the Manwarring Tavern also served as a Methodist meeting house on Sundays.