Driving present-day Route 40 westbound will take travelers through scenic Western Maryland toward Hagerstown and beyond.
In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson signed the bill passed by Congress and heavily supported by delegations from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to create the National Road envisioned by George Washington.
U.S. Route 40’s historic roots originate in Maryland and began America’s interstate highway system
Scenic U.S. Route 40 is America’s most historic road. Though the terminuses of the highway have changed over many years, it is traditionally recognized to have originated in Baltimore and continued toward St. Louis, Missouri. It is the road that opened up westward travel from the East Coast. It is the road that offered opportunity to thousands of pioneers to improve their lot in life. It was the road of hope.
In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson, in an act as important as the Louisiana Purchase, funded the new nation’s first interstate highway from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, West Virginia. The road first known as Nemacolin’s Path was a Native American trail over the Allegheny Mountains from the Potomac River to the Ohio River at what is now Pittsburgh. Explored by a young George Washington, the path was widened to a military road during the French Indian War in the 1750s.
For 50 years, Americans seeking new opportunities trekked west on foot or horse through the wilderness on the old military road. By the 1800s, the road was no longer suitable to carry the traffic of those answering the call to go west.
The spirit of America demanded a road that could carry Conestoga wagons and stagecoaches and herds of livestock. With a stroke of his pen, Jefferson funded the bill passed by Congress and heavily supported by delegations from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to create the National Road envisioned by George Washington.
It took five years to build a road of crushed stone that would create a surface friendly to the wheels of heavy wagons and banish quagmires of mud. It was America’s first Macadam road. Stone masons built bridges with graceful arches across rivers and streams. The Casselman Bridge—built in 1813 with an 80-foot span in the new town of Grantsville, located in Garrett County, Maryland—was the largest arched bridge in America. It carried traffic for 125 years and, today, is a historic landmark.
Droves of people in carriages or on foot shared the road with thousands of livestock, particularly pigs moving from Ohio eastward to Baltimore, which by 1830 was America’s second largest city. Inns and houses, still visible today, constructed of bricks made on site offered accommodation and food for weary travelers. New trades and businesses—blacksmiths, coopers, stagecoach repair, taverns—flourished. The National Road was a busy, busy route.
And then the railroads came. All became quiet along the route for nearly a generation until the automobile gave it new life. And the National Road—a.k.a. Nemacolin’s Path, Braddock’s Road, the Cumberland Road, National Pike, or, simply, The Road—became U.S. Route 40, America’s scenic and historic road of discovery. Today, most of the road parallels speedier Interstates 70 and 68.
Traveling the road for a day trip in Western Maryland puts one in touch with the past or with the marvels of today’s industry. For early travelers, the rocky terrain was a barrier. But engineers have sliced through the earth. Interstate 68 West, near Hancock, Maryland, cuts through Sideling Hill, revealing an amazing geologic fold with varied colors and 350 million years of rock layers.
A visitors center explains the geology of the area, a time when the continents of North America and Africa collided causing the land to fold like an accordion. Route 40 bypasses the hill several miles to the south.
Along this western route through Maryland, Rocky Gap State Park and Lodge beckon road-weary travelers to stop and stretch their legs, and lunch in a room overlooking a lake. The Lodge often hosts special holiday events and art shows. Rocky Gap is a relaxing place away from the big cities. On a night visit, s’mores are toasted at lakeside campfires.
American pioneers migrated westward in Conestoga wagons along Nemocolin’s Path, which would become the National Road, in hopes of securing land and building a prosperous life.
Route 40 moves through the Queen City of Cumberland and LaVale, then past the old toll gate, built after the National Road was handed back to the states for maintenance in 1833. No one traveled west or east without paying tribute to the State of Maryland.
A two-lane highway rolling up, down, and over the Appalachian foothills passes by Great Meadows, where Fort Necessity once stood, and then arrives at Grantsville and the Casselman Inn, built in 1824 as one of the National Road’s original hoteliers. Outside is a stone mile-marker telling how far it is to Wheeling. In fact, at odd places along the road and the interstate, ancient mile-markers appear. Today, guest rooms furnished in antiques provide a place to stay for the night, just as they did a bit more rustically 175 years ago. The restaurant and bakery serve Amish cuisine, simple and affordable meals.
Penn Alps is one mile east and serves good home cooking as well. It houses a gift shop with unique regional crafts for holiday buying and a bookstore on local history. On its grounds are shops of artisans in buildings that were once the log cabins of settlers. Homemade soap, wool-spun items, hand-carved birds, and ground flour demonstrate the way of life that would have been familiar with our ancestors. Here, too, is the historic Casselman Bridge.
A discovery journey on the nation’s first road west can last for a weekend. A detour along Route 214 to Oakland will lead to the restored Historic Train Station or the Adventure Sports Center, which features kayaking for Olympic hopefuls. Skiing at Wisp Resort is a winter pastime and during summers, you can explore the source of the Potomac River, Swallow Falls, and much more. But that is another story from a later time.
The historic Casselman River Bridge, built between 1813–1814, is located in Casselman River Bridge State Park in Garrett County.
Route 40 continues westward through Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and on to the forks of the Ohio River. Amazingly, it still follows old Nemacolin’s Path, used for centuries before its discovery by colonial explorers heading west. It was the road of hope that sustained native tribes, and then a nation.
