On the flats of the east side of Connoquenessing Creek, one hundred rods east of this spot, Major George Washington, then a youth twenty-one years of age, narrowly escaped death, being shot at by a hostile Indian, less than fifteen steps distant, on the evening of December 27th, 1753, as he and Christopher Gist were returning from Virginia from Washington's historic visit to Saint Pierre, Commandant of the French Forts, Le Boeuf (Waterford) and Venango (Franklin), as agent of Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia in delivering to Saint Pierre the protest of Governor Dinwiddie against the encroachments of the French on territory claimed by the English.
Washington and Gist were following the course of the Venango Indian Trail, which crossed the highway at this spot. It followed an almost north and south line from the forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh) to Venango (Franklin), and was one of the most important of the Indian trails.
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