Quaker Trail
From Black Hawk Slept Here
Wayne County was settled in 1805, and in 1819 the settlers at Richmond, who belonged to the society known as Friends, cut out a road from Winchester, Randolph County, to the military road just described. [I.e. The road from Fort Recovery to Fort Wayne.] This road was known as the 'Quaker Trail,' and it struck the military road in this county near the mouth of Yellow Creek.
Source: Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana (1887), page 189
The mouth of Yellow Creek appears to be near the west edge of section 12, Washington Township, just outside of Decatur to the southeast.
Do any modern roads follow this old trail? The modern route from Winchester to Decatur is US-27. Most of the county roads in Adams County seem to follow section lines. However, there is a north-south road in Adams county that departs from the usual pattern. It's the Salem Road, which starts in section 32 of St. Mary's Township, passes through Blue Creek township, and ends in section 5 of Jefferson Township. Does it follow the route of the old Quaker Trail?
