Retiring Guy's Digest: U.S. 40 Cross Section of the United States of America (Chapter 25: Mileposts)

Thursday, September 12, 2024

U.S. 40 Cross Section of the United States of America (Chapter 25: Mileposts)

That was then (1953).

Columbus Dispatch, 7/23/2018

Congress authorized the National Road in 1806, said Bill Flood, a past president of the Whitehall Historical Society, though construction did not begin until 1811 and did not reach the Ohio River until 1825, stretching into Columbus in 1833.
Conceived as an "all-weather road" necessary for America's westward expansion, it was built using macadam, a surface named for its Scottish inventor, John McAdam, using several layers of crushed stone to create a solid, weather-resistant surface, according to "The National Historic Road in Ohio" by Glenn Harper and Doug Smith.

From chapter 25:

Where the National Road still follows its original course, the motorist passes many old mileposts still standing.

{snip]

The drivers of the Conestoga wagons, proceeding at their two or three miles per hour, would certainly have been mystified by the modern signpost appearing just east of the little town of Lafayette. It must be admitted that the modern automobilist, expecially at night, is also sometimes mystified, and has been known to turn up the wrong lane and go in the wrong direction.

This is now.