Two hundred years ago this year, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the construction of a National Road. As the leader of a growing nation he envisioned that such a road would assist westward progress and promote commercial travel over the Alleghany Mountains. The road unified the nation physically and psychologically, politically and economically. It facilitated growth as well as economic and social exchange. Celebrate the bicentennial of the Historic National Road this year as you drive all or part of the Byway through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
The National Road was initially designed to run from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, Virginia (later West Virginia), connecting the Potomac and Ohio Rivers. Over time it was extended until it finally stretched all the way to Vandalia, Illinois. Learn about the overall history of the National Road at the National Road/Zane Grey Museum in Zanesville, Ohio. Scattered around the grounds of the museum you’ll find mile markers that once indicated distances along the corridor. The museum itself tells the story of the National Road with dioramas, antique automobiles and other displays.
To gain a sense of the early traveler’s experience, visit Washington’s Tavern, 11 miles east of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Built in 1828, the tavern was a way station for travelers on the National Road, complete with a barroom, parlor, kitchen, and seven bedrooms. Here tired travelers could relax after a long day on the Road. Today you can tour the tavern, which has been converted into a museum.
To service the traveling public, taverns, inns, and blacksmith shops sprang up along the National Road. Many of these areas developed into settlements, when people came to serve the Road’s travelers and stayed to build new lives. Step into the lives of these early settlers at the Huddleston Farmhouse. Imagine John, Susannah, and their 11 children living and working here. Diaries, archaeological digs, and recollections of the Huddlestons' descendants are part of the guided tour that paints a rich picture of the people in the developing area.
During the first half of the 19th Century, people principally traveled the National Road on foot, by stagecoach, or by the Conestoga wagon, which was developed specifically to haul goods along the corridor. The railroad and canal system that developed during the mid-1800s caused road use to decline in general, and it wasn't until the invention of the automobile that the National Road surged back to life. Car garages, restaurants, motels, and tourist cabins replaced old blacksmith shops, taverns, and inns, providing similar goods and services to automobile drivers. Stop for a bite to eat at a 1950s diner in Plainsfield, Indiana. Learn the history of filling stations along the Historic National Road, at Texaco Museum, once an early gas station itself, in Knightstown, Indiana.
Travel the Historic National Road (also known as US 40) and celebrate its bicentennial by immersing yourself in many of the same sights early Americans saw as they traveled the road in the 1800s and 1900s. Today the Historic National Road is a symbol of our nation's past, present, and future, boasting a culture, history, and tradition that are unparalleled. Become a part of a truly American experience as you celebrate two hundred years of America on the Road.
