1811 was not perhaps the most significant year history has ever known. But it did have some memorable moments, mostly as a birth year. 1811 saw the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Franz Liszt. Napoleon II. …And the USA’s very first government funded highway, the oldest highway in America, the National Road.

The National Road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and served as the main transport path west for many 19th century pioneers. It stretched 620 miles from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois, where construction stopped in 1837 for lack of funds.
Citynoise / Wikipedia
(Later, in the 1900s with the advent of the automobile, this early National Road was connected via other routes all the way to California and billed the "National Old Trails Road.")
And in running from Maryland to Illinois, it passed right through the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, specifically the area of and surrounding the city of Wheeling. West Virginia's portion of the National Road is also known as U.S. Route 40, and follows Little Wheeling/Wheeling Creek from the Maryland border to the Ohio River at Wheeling Island.
Bwsmith84 / Wikipedia
You can still follow this route today, and it contains multiple stops of note.
"To the pioneer mothers of our mountain state whose courage, optimism, love, and sacrifice made possible the national highway that united the east and west."
Madonna of the Trail, Wheeling, WV 26003, USA
Keep Life Simple / TripAdvisor

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So reads one of the inscriptions on West Virginia's "Madonna of the Trail," one of twelve monument statues that line the National Road and its extensions, from Maryland to California, dedicated to the spirit of the American pioneer women. Visit this one at Wheeling Park.
Ben_Theretoo406 / TripAdvisor
Original travelers on the improved National Road used a ferry to cross the Ohio up until the completion of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, which was begun in 1847.
Jack Boucher / Library of Congress
This iconic suspension bridge, the longest in the world for a period of time, still spans the Ohio River. You can walk across it, but it's no longer open to vehicle traffic.
Wheeling Suspension Bridge, Wheeling, WV 26003, USA
DavidByronKeener / iStock Collection via Getty Images Plus

Interested in learning more about some of the stops along the oldest highway in America? Here’s more on the Wheeling Suspension Bridge.

 

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