Where the Road Began - Cumberland, Maryland - U.S. 40 - The National Road on Waymarking.com

Text of marker:

Where the Road Began

You are standing at the starting point of this country's first federal road building project, the Cumberland or National Road.  A vision of George Washington as a means to develop the continent and to unite the country, his idea was championed by Thomas Jefferson and authorized by congress in 1806.  Actual construction work began in the summer of 1811.  The adjacent monument was erected to commemorate the 2011 Bicentennial of the start of construction on the road at the Zero Mile Marker that you will find in the traffic island in  the intersection before you.  The flags surrounding the monument represent each state that the road traverses and the official U.S. flag in 1811.

Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains, Cumberland sat on the edge of the frontier in the early 19th century.  Crossing the mountainous landscape was challenging.  The eastern continental divide was a barrier for westward expansion and trade in the Ohio Valley.  Still, daring pioneers pushed westward.

The initial route began before you on Greene Street and Braddock Road roughly following the original Nemacolin Trail and the route of General Braddock's 1755 march to what became the City of Pittsburgh.  This route was blazed and improved between 1750 and 1754 by Delaware Indian Chief Nemacolin, Thomas Cresap and George Washington.  Near Brownsville, PA, the route diverged from "Braddock's Road" and headed west toward the Ohio River at Wheeling.  Within Cumberland, the route of the National Road changed over time as the city developed and new roads were carved into the landscape.  In 1833, the official route shifted to Mechanic Street to take advantage of the improved passage through the "Narrows."

"Easily first among the several through highways running west from the Atlantic seaboard, and ranking with the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails of the far west, is the Old National Road, which, though completed as a government project only from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling (then Virginia, now West Virginia) was connected up with the older pikes form Baltimore, Frederick and Hagerstown, and subsequently with the new lines west of the Ohio river, making for all time the shortest and most natural way for road travel from tidewater at Chesapeake Bay to the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers at St. Louis, Missouri."
(Robert Bruce, 1916) 

Robert Bruce traveled the National Road in 1916, and produced a guidebook that included, "a series of detailed maps showing topography and principal points of historic interest."  His insight all those years ago continues to enlighten today's traveler on the historical significance of this great highway that for many years was "a vital factor in the life, politics and industry of the country."  Thank you, Mr. Bruce

The book by Robert Bruce mentioned is available online at Archive.org in various formats and is interesting to read.

Americana: Other Significant Interest: Other Milestone / Marker: Historical Marker Web Address: Not listed

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