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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Old National Road Over Sideling Hill


Steve_Colby
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We had a great day today traveling old sections of the National road from the west of Sideling Hill to Millstone. Here's some highlights:

 

old-road-sign-sideling1_lrg.jpg

Old Road Sign on Hixson Rd. (Old Nat'l Pike) on west side of Sideling. I couldn't make out what the sign says but the shape looks familiar. Any suggestions?

I figured it out. It's an old Cities Service sign.

 

 

hixson-feed1_lrg.jpg

Hixson Feed on Hixson Road. This place looks like a typical roadside establishment. There's even a hand-painted sign on the front of the building pointing to a water spigot.

 

hixson-ladies3_lrg.jpg

Hixson Feed's facility for the Ladies. The Gents was equally appealing.

 

sideling-fruit-stand1_lrg.jpg

Old Fruit and Cider Stand at the top of Sideling Hill. (On the 1950s US 40 road) This road usually sees only local traffic since the opening of I-68.

 

repair-shop-millstone1_lrg.jpg

Old Garage in Millstone (East of Hancock) on the old road. Millstone was completely bypassed by I-70. It's just a "bump" on the road map now.

 

~ Steve

Edited by Steve_Colby
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Great photos. We had quite a discussion about the Cities Service sign here a couple years ago. Nice to know it's still hanging in there. Is that driveway next to Hixson's Feed an old alignment?

 

I'm trying to remember whether I followed Hixson Road when I made my trip last year. I think I missed that turn, and ended up following Natl. Pike up to McFarland Rd.

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Great photos. We had quite a discussion about the Cities Service sign here a couple years ago. Nice to know it's still hanging in there. Is that driveway next to Hixson's Feed an old alignment?

 

I'm trying to remember whether I followed Hixson Road when I made my trip last year. I think I missed that turn, and ended up following Natl. Pike up to McFarland Rd.

 

JIm,

I don't believe the driveway by Hixson's Feed is anything more than a driveway. A little farther up the road, Hixson Rd. now makes a hard left turn but there is no doubt the road once traveled straight and paralleled the later US 40. (The chain over the road and the ribbon of asphalt continuing up the mountain is hard to miss. <g>)

 

On the east side of Sideling, part way down the mountain, you can see the old alignment veer away from the new where it eventually meets Western Pike near Exline Rd. There is an 1800's wagon stand and inn at the juncture.

 

Steve

 

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I don't believe the driveway by Hixson's Feed is anything more than a driveway. A little farther up the road, Hixson Rd. now makes a hard left turn but there is no doubt the road once traveled straight and paralleled the later US 40. (The chain over the road and the ribbon of asphalt continuing up the mountain is hard to miss. <g>)

 

I'm telling you, it is high on my list to take a week off work and spend it on the NR in MD! My one-day trek across it in April just barely scratched the surface.

 

jim

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Steve & Jim,

 

I too wondered if that was the sign we discussed earlier. I agree with Jim that the photos are great. They made we want to transport myself eastward.

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave,

Your 1928M-H Guide lists (3) roadside facilities between Bellegrove State Camp (which I'm still looking for) and the summit of Sideling:

 

28.3 - 36.3: Garage and store; camping space (W-C)

29.6 - 35.0: Gas and lunch; limited camping space (W-C-S)

30.7 - 33.9: Sideling Hill Mountain summit; lunch stand; water 10c a bucket. West side is the steepest; think it is the hardest pull on the highway; very, very few make it in high gear. Stop for fine view of the valley below.

 

The facility in the Sideling summit photo, on CPR, looks like it has gas pumps (on left). M-H notes two gas stations before the summit. It's conceivable Hixson's Feed was one of them. The Cities Service side is before Hixson's so it could refer to Hixson's or the gas station at the summit. (Or, maybe, something on the abandoned section of Hixson Rd/old Rt.40.

 

I believe the Cider/Fruit stand is in the immediate vicinity of the Sideling summit facility in the picture.

 

~ Steve

 

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I'm telling you, it is high on my list to take a week off work and spend it on the NR in MD! My one-day trek across it in April just barely scratched the surface.

 

jim

 

Jim,

I was checking Christopher Busta-Peck's route map for the west side of Sideling and he shows the driveway along Hixson's Feed as an old alignment. I find it somewhat problematic as the little jag/driveway travels up a hill and then back down.

 

hixson-feed3_lrg.jpg

 

 

Update: I reviewed the 1898 USGS Map of the area and the jog is not show.

 

~ Steve

Edited by Steve_Colby
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Jim,

I was checking Christopher Busta-Peck's route map for the west side of Sideling and he shows the driveway along Hixson's Feed as an old alignment. I find it somewhat problematic as the little jag/driveway travels up a hill and then back down.

 

hixson-feed3_lrg.jpg

 

 

Update: I reviewed the 1898 USGS Map of the area and the jog is not show.

 

~ Steve

 

Steve,

 

I'm lost (nothing new!). I am looking at Sideling Hill at Hixon Road in Google, and it is west of the 1898 section you posted. What am I missing?

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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Steve,

 

I'm lost (nothing new!). I am looking at Sideling Hill at Hixon Road in Google, and it is west of the 1898 section you posted. What am I missing?

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

 

Dave,

The road shown as the Cumberland Turnpike over Sideling Hill Mountain on the 1900 USGS map, on the west side, is Hixson Rd. today. (At least a quarter or so of the way up.) (Here's a better copy of the map.)

 

Hixson Rd. kind of parallels Scenic Rt. 40 up the west side of the mountain but most of it has been abandoned. (Just just past the sharp left hairpin turn.)

If you look at the close-up satellite, you can see the path of the road in the trees.

 

Question....? Do you have a legend for the letter codes in the M-H Guide (ie, W-T-S-C...) I got water, toilets and camping but some are eluding me.

 

~ Steve

Edited by Steve_Colby
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