Jump to content
American Road Magazine
Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

A Slice Of The Original National Road Found In Pa.


DennyG
 Share

Recommended Posts

Back in August, workers near Brownsville, PA, struck a bit of the original nearly 200 year old National Road. A slice has been preserved and will be displayed; Possibly as soon as next spring. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a good article here. Big thanks to Jeff Kitso of Pennsylvania Highways who posted the link in the Route 40 egroup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back in August, workers near Brownsville, PA, struck a bit of the original nearly 200 year old National Road. A slice has been preserved and will be displayed; Possibly as soon as next spring. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a good article here. Big thanks to Jeff Kitso of Pennsylvania Highways who posted the link in the Route 40 egroup.

 

Denny,

 

Interesting! I wish though that they had included a photo. They said that the surface was cobble. I have driven on cobble roads in Mexico. They would shake your eye balls out of their sockets, even in a modern car. Imagine a wagon!

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm certainly curious. My idea of cobble does not match my idea of the early National Road surface. Maybe my ideas are wrong on both subjects.

The article mentioned a "cobble roadbed", which I didn't necessarily take to mean the finished road surface. I just assumed that this was one of the deeper layers. Then when replacing the road later, they removed the top finish layer but there was no need to re-do the foundation.

 

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...
Back in August, workers near Brownsville, PA, struck a bit of the original nearly 200 year old National Road. A slice has been preserved and will be displayed; Possibly as soon as next spring. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a good article here. Big thanks to Jeff Kitso of Pennsylvania Highways who posted the link in the Route 40 egroup.

 

 

Denny, here's another "slice" of the old National Road-taken from the Washington, PA Observer-Reporter concerning an old bridge at Brownsville.

 

Mike Austing

Dennison, OH

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Mike,

 

Thanks!

 

Darn, the newspaper again left out the photos! Folks can see the bridge at the the Library of Congress American Memory site. Just search for Dunlap Creek Bridge.

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That bridge really is a valuable piece of American road history. I was by there once in 2006. The banks were quite overgrown and it was really tough to get a look at the underside but the little bridge was still doing its intended job and then some.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are demolishing a lot of the buildings in downtown Brownsville, including one of the stores which abutted the bridge, and actually extended out over the creek bed, obscuring the bridge itself. The store was there in 2004 when I passed through, but last summer all that was left was the foundation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mike,

 

Thanks!

 

Darn, the newspaper again left out the photos! Folks can see the bridge at the the Library of Congress American Memory site. Just search for Dunlap Creek Bridge.

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Hey Dave, I checked out the Library of Congress American Memory website and saw the pic of the bridge, as well as a few other pictures of highway 40 by searching U.S. 40 and Route 40. Since most landmarks/bridges/buildings, etc do not have a label of US 40, do you have any other suggestions for searches to see some great pictures? Thanks, Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Thanks to Adam Prince, who posted a link in the Route-40 Yahoo group, we can now see a picture of that slice of road. The picture is in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article HERE. It's described as a "cube-like slab" which I'm guessing is something they talked about on that day I missed geometry class. Thanks a bunch for the tip, Adam.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to Adam Prince, who posted a link in the Route-40 Yahoo group, we can now see a picture of that slice of road. The picture is in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article HERE. It's described as a "cube-like slab" which I'm guessing is something they talked about on that day I missed geometry class. Thanks a bunch for the tip, Adam.

 

Wow! This has got to be roadie heaven. A conservator is going to preserve a “cube-like slab” of old road bed and it is going to be on permanent display. Now I can die (not soon) knowing that there is nothing more to wait to happen!

 

I know they do this with Viking ships, King Tut, and bog men, but I never dreamed a chunk of roadbed. :o I wonder where they find “cube-like slab” conservators. :huh: Do you have to have a doctorate in the subject or is it experience that counts? ;)

 

Kidding aside, I do think it is interesting to see the construction over the years. It will settle the cobblestone vs. macadam debate! :lol:

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...