Forest Glen

A correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1831 said there should be a halfway house, between Best’s Inn (Milddle Dural) and Wiseman’s Inn (Hawkesbury River). This is approximately the area of Forest Glen. In 1832 the Maroota Government Village was established there, for the retirement of army veterans, but the soil was so poor the settlement failed. For many years positions on the Great North Road were identified mainly by stands of usable timber, such as Beckett Forest and Maroota Forest. Forest Glen was originally part of the “inexhaustible forests of Dural”. The thickly wooded forests of Dural were often remarked upon, and became known to the correspondents of the Sydney Press with the building of the Great North Road, constructed during the late 1820s to connect Sydney with settlements on the Hunter River.