Turnpike Troubadour: The Philadelphia & Lancaster Turnpike
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If you're like me, you will be traveling across some stretch of the country this week in time for Thanksgiving. The week of Thanksgiving is known as the busiest travel period of the entire year, and for the majority of Americans en route to their turkey and stuffing dinners, their journeys will take them on the massive web of highways across the nation that make the United States look like a plate of grey spaghetti sometimes.
The interstate highway system that makes up much of this plate of gray spaghetti dates back to the 1950s, but the history of roads in America dates back much further than this, even if these roads were quite primitive for much of their existence. From the beginning of European colonization throughout the colonial period, the highest quality roads were little more than long flat strips of dirt.
The weather greatly affected how these roads could be traversed. Any mid-level quantity of rainfall, and these roads would be little more than massive mud puddles just waiting to eat up wagon wheels. On the other hand, had rain avoided the area for some time, the road would become dusty, serving whoever dared to traverse it with a mouthful of soil.
Because of the poor quality of these roads, crossing the colonies, (and eventually, the new nation) on land was a tough task. For example, it would take close to a month to take these roads from Williamsburg, Virginia to Philadelphia. As this was the case, most travel across significant distances would be done via sail, the fastest method of getting one place to another, as it had been for most of human history. While this was manageable for the large cities of the young nation, such as Boston, Philadelphia, or Charleston, this also left many of the Americans living more inland in a lurch, lest they live near a river.
For several of the Pennsylvanians that were removed from a significant body of water, there needed to be a better solution for them to be able to send their agricultural products to market in Philadelphia, as well as for Philadelphians looking to push westward into the Keystone State. This solution would come to them all in the form of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, established in 1795.
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This road, following an old trail used by the forefathers of the residents of central Pennsylvania, was somewhat minuscule compared to modern highways, but at 62 miles long, this road was an impressive feat previously unseen in North America.
What added to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike's grandness was the material the road was made of. No longer would people have to gamble on whether or not their travel time would have perfect weather. Instead, the turnpike would consist of macadam, a surface made of finely crushed stone that would hold the dirt it was placed in together, but also allow for drainage to prevent ruts or dust clouds. This layer of rock, developed by the Scottish inventor of the same name, would provide an unprecedented level of ease of travel between the then nation's capital and the central region of the state, if not the entire United States.
Because of this new surfacing and the amount of road on the turnpike, the state government was priced out of paying for the highway. instead of public funding, the Turnpike collected tolls at certain intervals, Establishing the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike as The nation's leading toll road. This provided the highway with more than enough to pay back the debts it had taken out in constructing the road, especially as use increased over time.
As rail would overtake the horse and wagon as the leading method to cross over distances by land, the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike would slowly fall into disarray by the 1840s. As you venture out this holiday to safely reach your destination along the long stretches of asphalt, perhaps on the Turnpike’s spiritual successors in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Florida, think about how the journey to connect our nation together Has allowed us to stretch further apart while still staying close.
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