Dating to at least 1771, the approximately 59-kilometre (37 mi) road was an important inland commercial and military route connecting the town of Princetown or Malpeque with the colonial capital at Charlottetown.
[1] The road began in Charlottetown at an intersection with Euston and Great George streets, bearing north.
The British took control of the colony in 1758 following the Seven Years' War, and quickly recognized the importance of an inland route between the county seats of Princetown and Charlottetown.
On the morning of September 5, Lieutenant-Governor Edmund Fanning marched the Princetown Road with a force of volunteers from Charlottetown to put down the insurrection.
[1] The New Princetown Road diverted west from Hazel Grove to Fredericton, then turned north-west through Springfield and Summerfield to Kensington.
At South Granville the road resumes, in the form of a 1.5-kilometre (0.93 mi) dirt hiking trail through a scenic area known as the Devil's Punchbowl.