Sarah Kemble Knight (1666 - 1727) was a teacher and businesswoman, who is remembered for her diary of a journey from Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, to New York City, Province of New York, in 1704-05, a courageous and unusual adventure for a woman to undertake on her own. Having previously worked as a court scrivener, Knight possessed a basic working knowledge of legal matters. In 1704, she took it upon herself to "settle the estate of her cousin Caleb Trowbridge on behalf of his widow," and began her journey, on horseback, from Boston, Massachusetts to New Haven, Connecticut, an unparalleled feat for a woman at this time. She recounted her experiences during the five month journey in the "journals" that have made her known to students of American colonial literature and history. The small diary of her Boston-New York journey passed into private hands and lay undiscovered until 1825 when it was published posthumously. Her journal remains noteworthy both for its larger-than-life central character (Knight) and its telling of a trying journey not normally undertaken by a woman. The discomforts of primitive traveling are described with much sprightliness and not a little humor, including poems of gratitude and relief about finding moonlight, and poems of frustration about the loud sounds of drunken-men late at night. The journal is valuable as a history of the manners and customs of the time, and is full of graphic descriptions of the early settlements in New England and New York.

At the same time, it is interesting for its original orthography and interspersed rhymes. Knight's journal is largely a ledger of the places and people she encountered during each day of her trip. Expository information such as, "About three o'clock afternoon, I begun my Journey from Boston to New-Haven; being about two Hundred Mile. My Kinsman, Capt. Robert Luist, waited on me as farr as Dedham, where I was to meet ye Western post," is interspersed with poetic interludes and extended scenes Knight found worthy of noting. The extended scenes highlight remarkable or memorable interactions, usually with people that Knight has strong opinions about. For example, early in the journal, crosses a swamp with a man she describes as "honest John." She embellishes this account with references of how impressed she was with him, citing stories he told of adventures that convinced her that he was "a Prince disguis'd.

" Upon reaching the next stop, Knight is confronted with this man's eldest daughter, who interrogates her with "silly questions" referring to the unusualness of a woman being on such a journey, to which Knight responds curtly, calling her rude. These instances of hyperbole and character judgment contrast with other, apparently less remarkable interactions, such as the following account of a transaction between two postmen (one of which was her guide), in which she does not even name her guide: "About 8 in the morning, I with the Post proceeded forward without observing any thing remarkable; And about two, on, Arrived at the Post's second stage, where the western Post mett him and exchanged Letters." This account, however, is immediately followed by a detailed description of a meal Knight was served, which appears to have been notable for its unpleasant appearance and aftermath. Extended scenes describing Knight's unpleasant encounters with food occur often throughout her journal. Some moments during the journey appear to have had a profound impact on Knight. These experiences are marked by distinct poetic interludes in her journal. In one instance, Knight finds herself riding her horse in the pitch-dark woods alone late at night. She feels intensely fearful until the moon reveals itself and lights her way, after which she experiences an epiphanic sense of relief and gratitude toward the moon.