Unpaved National Road photograph   Save
National Road Photograph Collection
Description: Photograph showing a residence and electric pole lines located near an unpaved street. The description located on the back of the photograph reads: "Old National Highway, 11.9 miles west of city limits of Zanesville before paving. Road muddy and poorly drained. Nov. 27, 1913. National Road." Beginning construction in 1806, the National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first federally-funded interstate highway. Crossing six states from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois, over 220 miles of the 600-mile road pass through Ohio. During the nineteenth century it was an important commercial artery for Midwestern merchants and farmers, and in the twentieth century, it continued to be a major east/west route for automobile travel. The National Road has been named both an "All-American Road" and a "National Scenic Byway" by the U.S. Department of Transportation. General road scenes also included in this collection illustrate driving conditions before and after the National Road was paved. Prior to paving, photographs show that the National Road could be very rutted and muddy. There are also photographs of road construction, mile markers, photographic reproductions of maps, a sign that lists rates of toll, a tollbooth on the National Road, and a worker on the National Road. Other states represented in the collection include West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV119_B01_F10_01
Subjects: Roads; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development; Travel; Streets--Ohio; National Road;
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)