The National Road

The road beneath you follows the route of one of the most consequential public works projects in American history: the National Road, also called the Cumberland Road. Congress authorized it in eighteen-oh-six and construction began in eighteen eleven, and the road was built in segments by a mix of city, state, federal, and private investment. Starting at Cumberland, Maryland, it pushed westward through the mountains of Pennsylvania and Ohio, eventually reaching Vandalia, Illinois.

It was the first road funded by the federal government and the first great commercial link connecting the Atlantic seaboard to the interior of the continent. Before the railroads arrived, the National Road carried an enormous volume of wagons, livestock, stagecoaches, and migrants pushing west. The federal road itself began at Cumberland, Maryland, but turnpikes in this part of the state fed traffic toward it, helping bind the young nation's interior to its coastal cities.