Words of Wisdom from SharLeigh
ONE OF OUR FIRST NATIONAL HIGHWAYS
“Ye Old Pike Road” (U.S. Highway 40) was one of our nation’s first highways. The road had many names including Braddock’s Road, Washington’s Road, Cumberland Road and the National Pike. The 800-mile journey started in Cumberland, Maryland, then snaked through the mountains to the Northwest Passage (the Ohio River Valley), and then terminated at the Mississippi River in Missouri (the Gateway to the West). Before the road was built, the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountains were a barrier to trade from east to west. Because of this, travel was done through river routes and coastal waterways. If you had goods to trade, the water route would take you some 3,000 miles (versus 400 miles by land) to reach your destination on the other side of the mountains. After the Revolutionary War, it became imperative that the country unite the Western Territories with the Eastern Seaboard. In 1811, the Federal Government authorized construction of the highway and began building in Cumberland, Maryland. By the late 1830s, the road had reached Vandalia, Illinois, but the project was stopped due to a lack of funds. Eventually, it did connect to the Mississippi River. This road helped open the flow of goods between the east and the west and allowed the country to expand and become more prosperous. There was no other road of importance that brought commerce between the Mississippi River and the Eastern Seaboard. The highway was heavily traversed, and it served its purpose well for many years. But as the railroad industry began to flourish, making travel safer and faster, the National Highway became a scarcely used relic. Decades later, the advent of the automobile brought the highway back into demand and much of it was incorporated into Interstate 70. Ye Old Pike Road may no longer exist today, but there are many historical structures still standing along its original route, like the stone mile-marker pictured here, which is located in Columbus, Ohio.