Historic Highways of America - Volume 12: Pioneer Roads and Experiences of Travelers (II)

A series of monographs on the History of America as portrayed in the evolution of its Highways of War, Commerce, and Social Expansion. Comprising the following volumes: Paths of the Mound-Building Indians and Great Game Animals. Indian Thoroughfares. Washington's Road: The First Chapter of the Old French War. Braddock's Road. The Old Glade (Forbes's) Road. Boone's Wilderness Road. Portage Paths: The Keys of the Continent. Military Roads of the Mississippi Basin. Waterways of Westward Expansion. The Cumberland Road. Pioneer Roads of America (two volumes). The Great American Canals (two volumes). The Future of Road-Making in America. This volume is devoted to two great lines of pioneer movement, one through northern Virginia and the other through central New York. In the former case the Old Northwestern Turnpike is the key to the situation, and in the latter the famous Genesee Road, running westward from Utica, was of momentous importance. A chapter is given to the Northwestern Turnpike, showing the movement which demanded a highway, and the legislative history which created it. Then follow two chapters of travelers' experiences in the region covered. One of these is given to the Journal of Thomas Wallcutt (1790) through northern Virginia and central Pennsylvania. Another chapter presents no less vivid descriptions from quite unknown travelers on the Virginian roads. The Genesee Road is presented in chapter four as a legislative creation; the whole history of this famous avenue would be practically a history of central New York.