Herewith The Reporter begins a series on the history of the National Pike in
Washington County which will provide interesting and informative reading. The
National Pike a glamour road in its own right--will be pictured in detail
as it was in the days when.--EDITOR.
Few people today realize the importance of the National Pike in the early
development of Washington County.
This great highway enters at West Brownsville and crosses the County in a
general westerly direction for 10 miles to the West Virginia line at West
Alexander. Such towns as Centerville, Beallsville, Hillsborough (now Scenery Hill),
Washington, Claysville, and West Alexander owe their growth to this road.
Before it reached the County 134 years ago (now 168 years in 1989) this section
was only a few years away from pioneer times, and the only means of reaching the
east was by the Old Braddock Road across the mountains, which was little more
than a rough trail to Cumberland, and from there by bad roads to Baltimore and
Washington City. Made almost impassable by snow in winter, with mud axle deep
in the spring, and covered with deep dust in summer, it was a long and perilous
journey.
Pack horses were used during much of the year, and heavy merchandise was
hauled across the mountains by a few wagons in the summer. This was an isolated
land, for weeks and even months were required to make the journey at any season.
Remember as you travel over the old National Pike through Washington County,
you are on the road of history and romance, where men and women, long forgotten,
once passed on their journey through life, and then disappeared. This is the road
where men and women, too, made history in days, now long forgotten, when our
republic was young. Many famous persons traveled this way, persons whose names
will be an inspiration for liberty and a heritage for all future generations as
long as America survives. The old road was the chain that bound into one nation
the East and the land west of the mountains. Without the pike there might well
have been two nations in what is now one great country.
Early statesmen--Washington, Jefferson, Clay, Thomas M.T. McKeenan, William
Montgomery and others--realized this and from their ideas and plans the National
Pike was born. And the section through Washington County was an important link
in this great chain.
With the coming of the National Pike all hazards of travel were changed. For
the first time in our history Washington County farmers sent their produce to
eastern markets in big Conestoga wagons, and passenger traffic was inaugurated
by lines of stagecoaches. Large quantities of merchandise were brought back from
the East in the Conestoga s, and emigrants passed through to settle in the far
west of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and even beyond.
This great highway was known by several names. During the construction
period and often for several years afterwards, it was called the United States
Road or the United States Turnpike from the fact that it was built by the
Federal Government.
After the western section was completed from Cumberland, Maryland, to
Wheeling, Virginia, it was called the Cumberland road; then the National road
and finally the National Pike.
I will use the latter name, as it soon became the most popular throughout
its entire length from Baltimore to the end of Vandalia, Illinois.
It had been called the most historic thoroughfare in the United States.
Perhaps that is stretching it a little, for more history rolled over the Santa Fe
Trail, although not a constricted highway, during almost half a century than any
other route in North America.
Yet the National Pike holds an important place in American history, and is
the most historic east of the Mississippi River. And a lot of history rolled
across the 40 miles of this great road through Washington County, history
we are justly proud of.
The pike brought Washington and the entire county the first big boom, many
public houses were necessary to accommodate the great number of wagoners, �Pike
Boys,� they were called, and stage coach passengers. Taverns and wagon stands
sprang up like mushrooms, and from West Brownsville, to the Virginia line,
now West Virginia. There were no less than 70 houses of entertainment.
As you travel over the old pike today and stop in front of some taverns
it will not take any great stretch of imagination to bring out the clouds of
yesteryear scenes of the long ago on the old pike.
It is easy to picture long lines of Conestoga wagons, their white tops
gleaming in the sun, drawn by six straining horses, some by slow plodding oxen
and a train of a dozen or more Concord stage coaches, each hauled by six
horses galloping swiftly past.
As you watch, the blast of an old time tin horn comes down on the lazy summer
air and a horseman gallops past in a cloud of dust so fast that you just see him
coming and then he is gone--the pony express rider of the Old Pike, carrying
light mail in small saddle bags. It was a great historical pageant that
actually passed over the old road right here in Washington County, if you
have the imagination to picture it.
Washington was a town of taverns and wagon stands with no less than 25 all
brought into existence by the National Pike. This seems inconceivable
today; but most of them were small, and there were many stage coach passengers
and Pike Boys constantly going and coming. I often wonder if even today with
all of the tourists that pass through are more or even as many as the heyday
of the National Pike.
It was the pike that brought Washington its first industry, the S. B. Hayes
& Company's carriage and wagon factory. More will be said of that.
During the golden days of National Pike, many famous persons stopped
in Washington--Presidents, statesmen, and soldiers. At no time since through
travel on the road ceased has Washington experienced the romance and glamour of
travel that it did during those years. This was just a small town, an overgrown
country village, where people had to find their own amusements.
Although many coaches passed through every day, the arrival of the stage from
either the east or west was an event, just as in later years people gathered
in good weather as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station to watch the trains
come in. Only memories of the old road's historic, romantic past are left among
a few of the present generation in the tales told by their fathers and
grandfathers, men who had lived their youthful years here when the old National
Pike was young memories of those long ago days when the travel of the young
nation passed through Washington County.
It is not my purpose to give the detailed history that led to the building
of the National Pike. That has been thoroughly covered by Thomas B. Searight in
his book, "The Old Pike", published 60 years ago, it is still the classic of
this great highway, and no other book has ever equaled it. It is doubtful if any
ever will, for Searight was born on the old road and knew its history better
than any man of his time. In gathering material he traveled over the pike in an
horse and buggy from Baltimore to Illinois. That is itself was a monumental job.
My first plan was to limit this account to a brief history of the old
taverns and points of interest along the pike in Washington County but as
the work progressed I soon found that a more extended description of each
stand together with the stage companies and the men who drove those stages
was necessary to give the reader a true picture of life along the National
Pike in this county between 1818 and 1852.
In gathering information I made many trips between West Brownsville and
West Alexander, interviewing older persons who remembered--hearing tales of
taverns still standing and those that have disappeared. They gave me much
definite information and legends that had been handed down by their fathers.
In this work I used Searight's book as a guide, and found that he was very
accurate as to mileage, location and the people who ran the taverns.
(to be continued)
For part 2 of The National Pike Story
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