Early People and Their Transportation

Early People and Their Transportation

The early people of present-day Ohio, Paleo-Indians were hunters and gatherers. They travelled by foot from place to place, searching for the best places to hunt the animals that provided them with food, lodging and clothing. They were nomads with no permanent homes. The shelters they created using animal skins, poles and shrubs were temporary and maybe portable. Every possession they owned that was valuable to them in their search for sustenance and shelter had to be moved by them as they travelled on foot.

Paleo knife

Later groups of Archaic Indians are thought to have used tools to hollow out logs to make dug-out canoes which allowed them to travel on Ohio’s waterways. They used the rivers and streams as guides to aid them in their travels from location to location. In the Westerville area American Indian camps were along Alum Creek and Big Walnut Creek.

Dug out canoe

Local literature identifies an American Indian trail or trace in the Westerville area portions of which connected Granville, OH and Worthington, OH. Today we know this as Route 161 also called Dublin-Granville Rd.

Westerville History MuseumWesterville History Museum

Your access to the past. Through historical collections and learning experiences, deepen your understanding of your community and its place in the world. From Underground Railroad activities to anti-alcohol efforts, the people who came before you have shaped the course of American history and given Westerville a unique legacy.
Your access to the past. Through historical collections and learning experiences, deepen your understanding of your community and its place in the world. From Underground Railroad activities to anti-alcohol efforts, the people who came before you have shaped the course of American history and given Westerville a unique legacy.
Back to Top