Editing Somerset County, Pennsylvania (section)

===Colonial era===
[[George Washington]] passed through the area of Somerset County on a scouting expedition in late 1753, just before the outbreak of the [[French and Indian War]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/french-indian-war/washington-and-the-french-indian-war/|title=Washington and the French & Indian War|website=George Washington's Mount Vernon|access-date=October 23, 2016}}</ref> The [[Forbes Road]] was cut through Somerset County several years later. This 200-mile stretch from Carlisle to what is now [[Pittsburgh]] was created by [[John Forbes (British Army officer)|Brigadier General John Forbes]] in the [[Forbes Expedition|British Expedition of 1758]] to capture the French [[Fort Duquesne]]. Forbes Road was one of two great western land routes cut through the wilderness to create supply lines from the east.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-7B|title=Forbes Road Historical Marker|publisher=explorepahistory.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821081300/http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-7B|archive-date=August 21, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was later the primary route of pioneers travelling to the [[Ohio Country]].

Fur trappers and hunters were first to stay in the region. The earliest permanent white settlement in what is now Somerset County is a region known as Turkeyfoot. People of "The Jersey Settlement" emigrated from [[Essex County, New Jersey|Essex]] and [[Morris County, New Jersey|Morris]] Counties, New Jersey, about 1770.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pagenweb.org/~somerset/hbs/chapter4.htm|title=History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Chapter 4, Volume 2|website=www.pagenweb.org|access-date=October 23, 2016}}</ref>