America’s Historic Roads
Puzzle 16 · Post Roads and the New Republic · Page 30 in print
The Cumberland Road
The 1806 Cumberland Road act called for three commissioners to lay out a route from Maryland to Ohio.
Jump to a word
The words
Brownsville
Pennsylvania road town that became a commercial centre.
Park Service: National Road - Fort Necessity (opens a new tab)
Commissioners
Three commissioners appointed under the 1806 act. Officials who laid out the road.
Wikisource: United States Statutes at Large (opens a new tab)
Cumberland
Cumberland, Maryland, eastern terminus where construction began in 1811.
Park Service: The National Road (opens a new tab) · FHWA: Maryland’s Bank Road (opens a new tab)
Draft Horses
Six-horse teams pulling Conestoga wagons about 15 miles a day.
Park Service: National Road - Fort Necessity (opens a new tab)
Gallatin
Albert Gallatin, advocate of internal improvements.
Illinois
State where construction stopped at Vandalia.
Park Service: National Road - Fort Necessity (opens a new tab)
James Monroe
President James Monroe, who vetoed toll authority for the Cumberland Road. President who rejected the proposed federal toll arrangement.
Maryland
State of the eastern terminus that took over its section in 1831–32.
Ohio River
River reached at Wheeling by 1818.
Park Service: National Road - Fort Necessity (opens a new tab)
Potomac
River whose head of navigation set the eastern terminus.
Public Lands
Public lands whose sales helped fund roads to Ohio. Land-sale proceeds supplied the road fund, as distinct from proposed toll revenue.
Toll Revenue
Proposed revenue from Cumberland Road toll collections.
Uniontown
Pennsylvania road town that became a commercial centre.
Park Service: National Road - Fort Necessity (opens a new tab)
Veto
Monroe’s veto of the preservation and repair bill.
Virginia
State that then contained Wheeling. Historic jurisdiction distinct from present West Virginia.
Park Service: National Road - Fort Necessity (opens a new tab)
Sources
- National Road - Fort Necessity National BattlefieldNational Park Service, Fort Necessity National Battlefield
- United States Statutes at Large: Volume 2: 9th Congress: 1st Session: Chapter 19United States Congress, Act of March 29, 1806, 2 Stat. 357, section 1 (Wikisource transcription)
- The National RoadNational Park Service
- Maryland’s Bank RoadFederal Highway Administration
- Federal Aid to Roads and Highways Since the 18th Century: A Legislative HistoryCongressional Research Service, R42140, January 6 2012
- Veto MessageThe American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara