The early history of highway transportation in Maryland.

THS EARLY HISTOBT OF HIGHWAY TRAN^ ORTATIOK IN t.IARYLAND
^■^K 6reeh,nnn} Hm 2^/927
One can scarcely realize or imagine that three hundred
years ago "this advanced and prosperous state of Maryland, dotted
as it is from corner to corner Y7ith cities, towns, and villages
bound together with a network of roads, both great and small, was
practically a continuous forest inhabited by Indians, That it was
ij!?>os6ible to get from one edge of the state to the other except
by foot» horse, and canoe travel accompanied by extreme danger* and
in no less than several weeks time, seems incredible also, but it
was exactly the situation tliat presented itself when the first of
our early pioneers set foot on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay*
Brave hearts, indeed, were in the bodies of those two
hundred people seeking, in this new and unknoim land, a religious
freedom which it was inposeible for thena to enjoy in their native
country. With this in mind. Lord Baltimore had dispatched the
little band, under the leaderahip of hie brother, Leonard Calvert,
to settle the oolony. After a weary trip across the Atlantic they
finally landed in a sheltered cove on the Potomac, just above its
mouth, on March 27, I654, There they established the first perma-
nent settlement and named it St. Mary's, It was not particularly

the beauty of the spot that the St. Mary's site was chosen for, but

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rather its superior commercial position which they recognized. This

was afforded by the proximity of the settlement to thePatuxent
and Potomac rivers and the Ohesap-eake Bay with their never ending
tributariea covering a large inland territory. There being little

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poesibility for land travel, th^ knevi that uee had to be made of
the water va.ye as a me ana of transportation. It has been aaid hy
a prominent chronicler of the period with reference to the Chesa-
peake Say — "They traded and travelled on it, fought and frolicked
on it, and its inlets and estuaries were so numerous and accomodat-
ing that nearly every planter had navigable salt water within a
rifle's shot of hia front door." Prior to this time there were no
roads nor anything that might be called that, in the territory.
Therefore, the word "road" as we know it today must have had a very
significant meaning in that early colonial vocabulary.

iith the ensuing years more eettlera came and with those
already there they began to spread out, forming new settlements but
altvays along the water's edge, becauee of the fear and awe they had
for the inland forests. The difficulty and danger of any travel on
land, added to the location of the aettlements on navigable waters
in the vicinity of St, Mary's and a growing desire of colonists to
got close relationship, led them to build small boats for use in
going from landing to landing and shore to shore.

Families built their own boats for use on this "highway of

water" and bo the design and construction was quite varied, How-

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ever there were several general types. One was the big log cano«

which they adopted from the Indian. It was mad© from a 15 or 20
foot section of the trunk of a large tree. The outside was fashioned
by a sharp tool but the inside was hollowed by fire. This was pro-
pelled by means of paddles. This and flat log rafts, which were

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ehoved along by aeans of long poles, were used principally in the
quiet and ehalloH waters- For travel on the Bay they used heavy
borad beamed veseole, known as sloops, which were single njaeted with
fore and aft rig. These were built in the woods and hauled to the
water's edge by oxen. There was also a smaller and lighter
schooner -rigged vessel with oars in use, called a pinnace. So it
was that practically all travel was mad© during the early years of
the white invasion.

It is interesting to note some of the colonists strategy
in Combatting the Indian and making shore-line travel safe. Shield*
were erected on the sides of the boats as a protection against
arrowi and hate were fastened on poles just high enough to be seen
above the top of the shields, in order to make the Indians believe
there was a larger number of people travelling. So the progress
in early days did not depend solely on the creation and extension
of thoroughfares and the introduction of new and better types of
vehicles because the Indian was a strong and decisive influence.
They had had undisputed possession of the land and sm unerring
appreciation of the irjportance of good lines of conmuni cation and
beat and easiest travel routes. It was these Indian routes or
"traces", as they were call-;d, that proved to be the cornerstone
of land travel in America. The Indians were economic strategists
and had already seen the advantages of the Potomac and Chesapeake
Bay regions. Of course they would not give it up easily.

Added to this influence there was also the lack of the
adventurer spirit due to the plantation system and its gentlouen

constituente . So the Westward laoveiaent and hence growth of land
travel in Maryland was considerably retarded as coup are d to that
tendency so ujanifest in the North. Practically all travel in the
colony was North and South. A few adventurouB spirits had plunged
into the wilderness and sometimee caiae back with tales of distances
beyond canprehensionjof never ending woods, of unknown mountains and
rivars, but that was not travel. It was adventure. So for nearly
150 years from the establishment of the first pemtenent settlements,
there were practically no inprovements made in methods of travelling
over the surface of the land.

The earliest "roads'" were paths from plantations to river
landings or from the settlements scattered along the rivers adjacent
to the little capital at St, Mary's. Generally no aninp-la or
vehicles were used on theca, the supplies being carried by hand.

One of the earliest mentions of a road in Maryland bears
the date of March, 164 5, wh^i Father Philip Fisher, a Jesuit missionary
wrote to his Superior as follows: "A road by land thru the forest has
just been opened from Maryland to Virginia. Ihia will make but a
two day's journey and both countries can be united in one mission."
This cannot be identified today, but it shows the early intercourse
between the sister colonies. However, the first public road in
St. Mary's county of which there is any definite record was the one
leading froa St. Mary's to the Patuxent River landing. It was
referred to as early as 16^9*

Finally, with the increase of population and a decrease in

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fear of the forests, the colonists began to move inland and as
water would not carry them where they wanted to go, more routes
of inter course became necessary. They made use iamed lately of the
system' of Indians traces or trails. No one dared travel alone, so

caravans of colonist a on horse and foot travelled together.

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The first road law of Maryland was passed by the Afieembly

in 1666 J it was entitled "An act for making highwayee & making the
heads of Rivers, Creekes, Branches, and Swanps passable for Horse
& Foote" , It provided that the County Oommissioners appoint overseers
of roads and levy tobacco or labor to be asseoaed equally upoa the
taxables of each county, Pines were imposed for the non-performance
of these duties either by the overseers or by the laborers whom they
Bummoned. This continued in force until 1696, but did not improve
tne situation greatly. Any roads built under this Act were little
more than tracks thru the foreet.

Transportation by wagon was yet entirely unknown so all the
road overseer had to do was cut away underbrush, fell obstructing
trees and drain the worst of marshes bo that horses or mules travel-
ling that way laden with panniers of tobacco would not stick fast in
low and swanpy ground. One of the most important of these early roads

can bo identified with the present road from Leonardtown thru Alien's

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Fresh and CSiaptico to Port Tobacco on the Potomac.

The slowness of the changes brought about in methods of

transportation may be illustrated by the fate of a petition made by

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people of St. Mary's County to the general AsBembly of the Province

on the occasion of the removal of the capital from St. Mary's to

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Annapolis. The petitioners euepeoted "that the chief dislite of

the location of the capital at St. Mary's to be on account of the

inconvenience of its eituationj uecauea the gentlemen^ the raeabera

of the house, have oean forced to travel on foot frcsa Patuxent to

St. Mary's and so baclc again.* The oolonistB promised to procure

"a caravan to go in all times of public cieatings of Assemblies and

Courts svery daj' betwixt St. Mar/'s and the Patuxent river and at

all other tiioeft once a week." However, this was refused because

th»y had not held to previoue promiees of the sort and the Cfi«)ltal

was moved.

Even prior to the first highway legislation in 1666,
regulationB concerning ferrise were enacted. It was in 1658 that
a general law was passed requiring each county to maintain at least
one ferry. These were crude affairs juet large enough to carry
several horses and men across the river or stream. Thay wore
flat, timber rafts moved by aeana- of oars or poles.

Nlth the increased use of Indian traces and the extension
of white man's tracks, known as "tote-patha", "pack roads", and
' horse ways" intercourse became greater but the travelling was
no less dangerous and tedious. The best of these roads existed
on the Eastern Shore peninsula and probably because of the greater
deiwity of population along the upper portion of Eastern Shore, the
route became a favorite line of travel from Philadelphia southward.

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In 1695, following the removal of the cs^iital to Armapolii, the

assembly eBtabliehed the first public post road in the colony and

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the eastom shore route was selected. It started at Newtons Point

and went thru Allen's millr Benedict j Jkme^olis^ Newcastle and

thenoe to Philadelphia, A salary of $50 was allowed Mr. John Perry

"the poet", for carrying "all public massages andpaquettes eight

times a year betwixt Potomack and Phila," He rode the rout© only

three years when he died and the system was abandoned. However, it

was revived more extensively later and contracte were let out for

"too carrying of the nail.

Prior to this, mail was passed from house to house. That
Is, it was left at the nearest house or tavern to bo sent by the
first conveyance the landlord found available. By an Act of the
Assembly, all letters touching public ai'faire were without delay to
be sent from house to house by the direct way until safely delivered.
Each householder was required to start it to the next house within
one-half hour after receiving it under a penalty' of 100 pounds of
tobacco, It was a penal oifence to open a letter without authority.
This system was finally abolished in 1715*

It is recorded that some cf the set tier's went into the
pack horse travel busineGs. They contracted for carrying people and
goods over the Indian trails and tote paths. It was they who bitterly
opposed the building or rather widening of the tote-paths to twenty
foot so that they could be ueed by carts, because it would ruin their
business. This Act was paesed in 1696 and the principal roads were

better cleared and grubbed and leveled witJa natural soil. The
first cartB to appear had small flat bodies with no aides or cover-
ing and were supported by two solid wheels cut frocj the trunk of a

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tree. They were drawn by horses or oxen and were iniaediately used

in the more thickly settled parts for freight transportation although

travelers etiil journeyed alnjoet exclusively iq>on horse back.

As a part of a scheme to develop Annapolis into a thriving
port the Asseiably ordered the constiruction of four "rolling roads"
for the transportation pf tobacco in casks into the town. They got
their name from the fact that thi; tobacco was packed into hogsheads
and rolled over and over along these roads by two men to each cask*
Later, however, these casks were fitted with shafts emd hauled by
oxen.

With the introduction of carta and the in|)etus toward
better highways, Maryland experienced, in c; a meat, the "western move-
ment" in 1750 &"d by 17^5, Frederick had been laid out sund connected
by eor^iaratively good roads with BaltiiBOr© and Annapolis, This
caused the greater development of Northern Maryland and was accom-
panied by a gradual change from pack-horse to wagons. This change
was acconpliahed against strenuous opposition on the part of pack
horse owners; just as a century later the wagoners themselves used
In vain every effort to resist the extension of the railroad. The
first wagons appearing about 17^0, were made entirely of wood and
the wheels were sawed from "trunks of the gum or buttonwood tree",
lap roved vehicles came later vdth the production of iron. About

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1750 the Oonestoga wagon appeared in Northern Maryland from its
source in Lancaster County, Penneylvania. It wae a huge affair,
heavily built with the bed higher at each end than in middle, and
concave in order that the contents would not spill in going up or
down hill. It had a dull white cloth covering supported by curved
ribs. The under body was alwa;^ painted blue and upper part red.
This wae ae characteristic as though it was a law. The wagon was
termed a "frigate of the land" and was drawn by two or four horses.
The driver rode one of the horses. It was this type that survived
and was used in pioneering the West,

So we see that from 1654 to 1775, when the first line of

Btage-v easels and wagons was established between Philadelphia and

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Baltimore, the development of highways and subsequent methods of

transportation in Maryland were quite remarlcable, but still very far

from the system we have today. The story of the i^ -building of

present methode of travel and transportation does not seem to have

been a record of the development of a system for carrying commodities.

It is a history of devices originated primarily for personal use

in moving from place to place. The pioneer, no matter of what date

or locality was a traveller before he was a producer or shipper, and

the expa-ioice gained was the basis for future permanent routes and

methods of travel.

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Bibliography

Sheet 1 Brantly, - Maryland, p. I5

Thonaaa - Chronicles of Colonial Maryland, p. 252

Sheet 2 Dunbar - History of travel in Aaerloa

Sheet 5 Dunbar - History of travel in America

Sheet 4 Sionssat - Maryland Geological Survey, p. 110

Thomas - Ghronicles of Colonial Md., p. 267

Sheet 5 Sionaaat - Marylnnd Geological Survey, p. 112

Sioneeat - Itoryland Geological Survey, p . 11?

Sheet 6 Sionsaatt- Maryland Geological Survey, p. Il4, p. 119.

Sheet 7 Thoaas. - Chronicles of Colonial Maryland, p, 268
Dunbar - History of Travel in America

Sheet 8 Sionesat - Maryland Geological Survey, p. 121
S ions-eat - Maryland Geological Survey, p , 125

Sheet 9 Dunbar - Hietory of Travel in Araerica

Sionaaat - lfe.ryland Geological Survey, p . 157