About 70 people walked off some of the calories from their Thanksgiving turkey today by retracing a portion of George Washington's 1753 winter journeys through what is now Butler County.

The commemorative event in Forward Township was co-sponsored by three groups that support local history efforts. They are Historic Harmony, Slippery Rock University's Old Stone House and Washington's Trail 1753, a new nonprofit organization headed by retired Butler County Judge Martin O'Brien.

Washington, just 21, traveled through southwestern Pennsylvania in November and December 1753 on a diplomatic mission for the governor of Virginia. His objective was to persuade the French to stop building forts in the Ohio Valley. The French and the British both claimed the area.

"We're hoping we can make this an annual event," said John Ruch, president of Historic Harmony.

Today's hike took walkers on a one-mile section of the Venango Trail. While historians do not agree on the exact route Washington traveled as he passed through Butler County, the trail is a likely candidate. The steeply sloping, often muddy path was a major north-south route originally used by the Native American inhabitants of the area.

Washington and his guide, Christopher Gist, had to struggle through high snowdrifts during their return journey from the French Fort LeBoeuf. Walkers today had to contend only with a little mud and a few small springs that ran across the path. While morning snow squalls had left fields and meadows white, the accumulation soon melted as temperatures rose to near 40 by noon.

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