In the span of a single month, between 15 August and 14 September 1806—on the first leg of their epic 7,073¼ mile journey through the interior of the continent, the Constable brothers encountered a remarkable range of communities living side-by-side. This was part of the reason they had come. They wanted to see the unfolding of the American experiment. They certainly wanted to see the scenery (to be captured in their watercolors) and the development of this new country that they had read and talked about in Britain. To do so they sought out diverse communities that would give a range of perspectives on the experiment.

The community of inns was vital for travelers. At their most basic, they provided food and shelter. They were also sources of news, gathering places of local color, and in a few instances places to get in trouble. The brothers identify a range of inns and taverns that they stay in over a one-month period—Pardee’s Inn, Boughton’s Inn, Pierce’s Tavern, Wilbar’s Tavern, Stephen’s Inn, and Birch’s Tavern. In many instances these inns served as a base from which to explore the surrounding communities. For example, Pardee’s Inn was near Oneida, New York. The native community of Oneida Indians were still living in the area, but the Anglo-European town of Oneida was also growing—and would in a few years spawn a utopian colony. Pierce’s Tavern was in Batavia, New York, newly founded in 1801 after the land had been ceded by the Seneca Nation in the 1797 treaty of Big Tree. The brothers explored both the town and visited the Seneca village in the area. Similarly, Wilbar’s Tavern was near a settlement of Tuscarawra (Tuscarora) Indians. Stephen’s Inn was near a village of the Chippeway (Chippewa) Indians near Niagra Falls.

The brothers were business minded, keeping accounts of costs of items and their expenditures on their journey inside the front cover of their diaries. They documented the growing American economy and technology. They included detailed drawings in their journal of the gristmill wheel near the Falls of the Genesee and visited the lead mine works up the Genesee River. They carried letters between settlements, as was common in the period before a regular postal service reached the hinterlands—giving them a easy introduction to the people of the area. In all, they saw both the growth of Anglo-European American industries and communities settling into the land, as well as the indigenous people who preceded them. Like the brothers, the first leg of our mapping project will focus on this rich period of encounter.