Perhaps the earliest New Englanders were afraid of the wilderness, but during most of the colonial period settlers, especially in the older, established areas, enjoyed getting out into the open air and walking. Some did it just because they liked being there, while others considered walking healthy. They went to visit sights such as Cohoes Falls outside of Albany or Passaic Falls in New Jersey. Especially in the eighteenth century they enjoyed going to streams or pretty woods and climbing hills to look at the vistas. Abigail Franks of New York City wrote to her son in London that "you'll be Surprised that I have taken a ramble for a day twice this Summer." The Lutheran minister Henry Melchior Muhlenberg "wanted a little exercise and some fresh air, so with out friends we climbed three miles up to the highest peak of the great...