Cumberland Road

a great national highway. It was projected in 1806 in Jefferson's administration on the model of the great Roman roads. It was intended at first to run from Baltimore to the Ohio and was afterward extended. Between 1806 and 1840 the general government expended nearly $7,000,000 in laying out, grading, building bridges, and macadamizing. The road ran from Baltimore westward through Fredericksburg, Cumberland, and Wheeling; through Ohio to Vandalia, Indiana-800 miles in all-where further construction was abandoned as unnecessary on account of the building of railways. The various portions of the road have been surrendered by the general government to the counties through which it passes. Though now almost forgotten, the Cumberland road was one of the most famous stage roads the world has ever seen. A ride on the top of a coach, bowling swiftly through the mountains of western Maryland and what is now West Virginia, is described by travelers as a trip not easily forgotten. See Road