The old National Road

The National Road was the country’s first major road to be built with Federal funds. Planning began in 1806 and construction began in 1811, with the stretch from Cumberland, MD (on the Potomac River) to Wheeling, WV (on the Ohio River) finished in 1818. Continued construction would eventually extend it to Vandalia, IL in the 1830s. It allowed numerous settlers to travel overland through the Appalachian mountains to the Ohio River by 1820, from where they would then travel onward by flatboat or wagon to locations in the Northwest Territory. The author credits it with facilitating the settlement of the Ohio country and with keeping the distant Northwest tied closely to the original U.S. states, overcoming the barrier of the Appalachian mountains.

The National Road was a huge, unprecedented Federal infrastructure project in the early 1800s. This volume traces the development of the idea and its implementing legislation, the challenges of contracting and construction, and the ongoing operations of the functioning road. There are chapters on roadside taverns and inns, and the people and vehicles that made use of the road.