UNIT III - Bridges, Toll Houses & Mile Markers
STUDENT SHEET
Background:
When you and your family go on a trip, you use things that make the trip easier.
Your family might use maps and read road signs to get where you are going. You
also use bridges to cross rivers and other roads.
A family traveling on the National Road in the 1800’s used some similar things.
There were few maps, and no road signs. But people could use mile markers
to help them in their travels. These were originally stone, and later cast iron,
posts showing the distance between different towns. Like road signs, they helped
travelers get from town to town.
The National Road also had bridges, most made from stone. Travelers on the National
Road crossed both the largest single span bridge in the nation and a bridge with
three arches. Both of these bridges helped people cross wide rivers. Travelers
also used the Dunlap's Creek Bridge in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. This was the
first cast-iron bridge in the country. Another type of bridge was known as an
"S" bridge. "S" bridges were built straight across the river
or stream. But the road on either side of the bridge had to curve to meet the
bridge, so it would have an "S" shape.
Many people and animals traveled on the National Road, and they began to wear
away the rocks. The U.S. government could not pay to keep repairing the road,
so it gave the road to the states through which it passed - Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Tollhouses were built along the
Road. These were places where travelers were stopped and had to pay money, called
a toll, to travel on the National Road. This money was used to repair the
road. The tollkeeper and his or her family lived in the tollhouse so tolls could
be collected all the time. Tollhouses were located 15 miles apart and travelers
were required to pay at each toll house. The more damage a vehicle did to the
Road, the higher the toll.
Thought Question:
1. Imagine you are a tollkeeper when the Road was its busiest. What would
you see along the National Road in a typical day?
Research:
· Where the tollhouses in Pennsylvania were located
· Popular beliefs about
why "S" bridges were built