Harfoots enter Eriador
Event Type: Cultural/Social
Age: 3rd Age - The Kings
"It is clear, nonetheless, from these legends, and from the evidence of their peculiar words and customs, that like many other folk Hobbits had in the distant past moved westward. Their earliest tales seem to glimpse a time when they dwelt in the upper vales of Anduin, between the eaves of Greenwood the Great and the Misty Mountains. Why they later undertook the hard and perilous crossing of the mountains into Eriador is no longer certain. Their own accounts speak of the multiplying of Men in the land, and of a shadow that fell on the forest, so that it became darkened and its new name was Mirkwood."
FotR, Pologue, 1, Concerning Hobbits
"...Harfoots had much to do with Dwarves in ancient times, and long lived in the foothills of the Misty Mountains. They moved westward early, and crossed the mountains and roamed over the land of Eriador beyond, as far as Weathertop or futher, while the others were still in Wilderland."
Peoples of Middle-earth, Part 1, Ch II, The Appendix on Languages Note 10.