Abstract
In 1806, Thomas Jefferson signed "An Act to Regulate the Laying Out and Making a Road from Cumberland in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio." This road would ease the journey of settlers moving west by improving part of the existing road cut by British General Edward Braddock in 1755, and link the nation together through the Appalachian Mountains. Construction of the Cumberland Road was completed to Wheeling, Virginia, in 1818. Thanks to the newly graded surface, the four- to six-week-trip from Baltimore to the Ohio River could now be completed in less than half the time. For those who could afford it, stage coaches offered speedy travel between cities in the East and the Midwest.
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