Last updated: October 13, 2023
Article
Valley Turnpike
NPS Photo
"Ninety miles and more it stretches
Up the Valley, towards the south:
Firm it is to wheel and hoof beat,
Firm it holds in flood and drouth”— Scenic and Historical Guide to the Shenandoah Valley, 1923
The Valley Turnpike helped develop the Shenandoah Valley. It grew from a crude wagon road into a paved artery to distant states and cities. The road was part of a sweeping change in transportation between the American Revolution and the Civil War.
Beginnings
Colonists in the Shenandoah Valley found an old system of Native American trails. They called them the Great Warrior Path. Shawnee, Seneca, and Tuscarora had used the paths for trade, hunting, and raiding. As more colonists came, the main road became known as the Great Wagon Road. The Wagon Road connected Philadelphia to Winchester, Virginia, and south to Georgia.
Worst Road in the Universe
The Great Wagon Road’s rough, original surface changed with the seasons. It froze in the winter and dissolved into muddy ruts with spring rains or thawing ice. Wagons kicked up dust and rocks in the summer. An early traveler remarked,
"We rode in an ordinary stage…The way led us through a hill country and was very bad. We went for a considerable distance on rocks…I was surprised that our miserable vehicle was not broken into pieces."
Another traveler complained, it was "the worst road in the universe." The route was "the most horrible you can conceive…”
Turnpike of the Future
The War of Independence strained local governments' abilities to build, improve, and maintain roads. Turnpikes, or toll roads, offered a new way of making money for transportation. America's first good roads resulted from the turnpike movement. Virginia passed a law in 1817 to incorporate turnpike companies. It also set rules for constructing roads and collecting tolls.
Turnpike supporters in the Shenandoah Valley wanted a link to Kentucky, Tennessee, and the growing west. On March 3, 1834, the Virginia legislature authorized the Valley Turnpike Company. to build a 68-mile macadamized (hard surface) turnpike between Winchester and Harrisonburg. The turnpike was to follow the route of the old warriors' path. Builders would smooth existing roadbeds, straighten sharp curves, and bridge rivers.
Stock Company
The Turnpike Company expected the road to cost $250,000. They raised money selling shares of stock that sold for $25 each. The Valley Turnpike Company sold 60 percent of its stock to the public. The state of Virginia bought the remaining 40 percent.
In 1837, Virginia chartered a second company to improve 25 more miles between Harrisonburg and Staunton. This second company later merged with the Valley Turnpike Company. Between 1838 and 1857, the Valley Turnpike Company sold 16,000 shares of stock. The cost of building the entire 93-mile turnpike was $425,000, or over $9 million today.
Macadamized Road
The Turnpike Company used an advanced method of building roads in the early 1800s. The “macadamized” roads had three layers of rocks sloping into side ditches for drainage. The first two layers were of angular, 2.5-inch stones, and about eight inches deep. The third layer was about four inches thick with rocks one inch wide.
A heavy roller compacted the layers. This locked together the layers of angular stones. The Valley Turnpike was to be 60 feet wide, with 18 feet paved and not under 12 inches deep. No grade was to exceed 3.5 degrees.
Construction laborers quarried limestone along the route, creating clouds of dust. Workers also lined the drainage ditches and culverts with limestone rocks. The road’s surface was hard for cattle hooves. Farmers often used alternate roads for their animals. Rain, snow, and ice made for a slippery, deteriorating surface. The road required frequent repair.
Road of Commerce
By 1850, almost all Valley farmers grew wheat. Wagons carrying loads of farm produce bound for market traveled the Valley Turnpike. Teamsters camped by the road or lodged at "wagon stands" found at intervals along the route. Teams of four horses drew wagons that hauled up to three tons.
Wagons were loaded with flour, meat, tobacco, furs, and other products. The return loads carried fish, salt, coffee, and imported goods. Drivers outfitted their heavy wagons with feed troughs for the horses, axes for cutting firewood, and supplies to make a hasty dinner or supper.
The Valley's access to distant markets created a prosperous rural economy. The turnpike supported hundreds of mills. It helped make many farmers and millers wealthy. The Valley had other industries like iron furnaces, forges, harness shops, carriage workshops, inns, distilleries, and cattle yards. Merchants depended upon the turnpike for customers.
Toll Road
To control the road’s traffic, turnpike companies built scales along the road to weigh wagons. A wagon's weight determined the times at which it could use the road, the width of the wheels it needed, and the tolls. The law set toll rates for various types of vehicles. It allowed turnpike companies to place tollgates every five miles.
Rock walls on both sides of the road to confined wagons and prevented drivers from cheating on tolls. The law set penalties for toll evasion and the failure of a turnpike company to maintain the road. In 1840, it cost an average of $4.38 to travel the entire length of the Valley Turnpike, equal to about $90 today.
Improving the Turnpike
The construction of the Valley Turnpike changed the landscape. Builders made changes to the original Wagon Road. The old road led wagons to the easiest places to ford a stream. The new turnpike crossed streams where it was easiest to build a bridge. Bridges had to be high enough to escape flooding during heavy rains.
Political angst arose about construction priorities. Different interests wanted roads that suited their own preferences. State engineer Claudius Crozet sought scenic roads that meandered around hills. Merchants and farmers preferred straight roads to get their goods to market faster. Wooden and rock fences were also cheaper for farmers to build along a straight road.
Road builders found that they had to blast much more limestone than expected. There was not enough broken stone in the fields for workers to use for construction. In some places, they cleared limestone from the roadbed. In other areas, terrain confined the road to narrow passages.
The builders often ignored the law that the road be at least 40 feet where the road crossed streams. There was too much rock to remove by blasting. In some places the turnpike narrowed to 20 feet wide. That made two-way traffic impossible. It forced drivers to wait their turn to pass through a narrow section. Travelers complained that the road was smooth enough, but not wide enough.
The lower the road's gradient, or slope, the more weight wagons could carry. Steep grades hurt horses. Heavy rains washed down the road and caused erosion. Yet, company shareholders accepted steep roads if they were straight enough. As a result, builders didn't always follow the 3.5-degree slope rule decreed by law. The road between New Market and Middletown had steep grades of over four degrees of slope.
Road planners considered treatment for the animals hauling the goods. One turnpike official wrote,
"Wherever there is a long ascent or descent there should be level places found at intervals where cattle may occasionally stop and rest, in going up, so as not to remain in draught, and the carriage stand on a plane surface."
Workers cut much timber in the Valley to build bridges, many of them covered. They also cut wood for fences and fuel. That left long stretches of the pike unshaded. Summer heat was uncomfortable for both man and beast.
Civil War
The Valley Turnpike was important during the Civil War. It was the only improved road in the Valley. Both armies used it as their main line of communication, supply, and retreat. It allowed the transport of food and supplies to the Confederates. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson moved his outnumbered forces along the turnpike in 1862. US Gen. Philip Sheridan used it to invade the Valley and burn many of its farms in 1864.
Armies damaged roads and bridges as they fought. The Valley Turnpike Company reported that because of "the army destroying bridges, injuring toll houses... we are getting very little tolls." Turnpike costs spiked during the war. The Confederate government paid only one quarter of its tolls. By war’s end, the 20,000 dollars in Confederate bonds purchased by the turnpike company were worthless.
Right after the war, the turnpike struggled as wheat prices fell. Poorer farmers couldn’t pay the tolls, and railroads shipped more of the goods.
New Eras of Travel
Railroads became the Valley's main commercial arteries after the Civil War. Another mode of transportation would soon dominate. By the early 20th century, automobiles were tearing up the Valley Turnpike’s macadam surface. The bridge crossing Cedar Creek was hazardous for automobiles. The road from the north came down the hill and turned sharply to the right to cross the narrow, rickety bridge. This was only one of many problems with the turnpike throughout the Valley. The Turnpike Company had to make many repairs and improvements to accommodate automobiles.
The turnpike collected its last toll in 1918. It became a free, public road, a part of Virginia's new state highway system. The state removed the toll gates. Money to improve and repair the road came from taxes, particularly a tax on gasoline. It became part of today’s U.S. Route 11 in 1928. Despite no longer being a toll road, people continue to call it the Valley Turnpike.
References
Warren R. Hofstra, editor, The Great Valley Road: Shenandoah Landscapes from Prehistory to the Present (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2010).
Parke Rouse, Jr., The Great Wagon Road: From Philadelphia to the South (John W. Wayland, Scenic and Historical Guide to the Shenandoah Valley, 1923