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

1920 National Road Scenes


mobilene
 Share

Recommended Posts

I recently won an eBay auction for a short stack of eight cards, like postcards but smaller, of National Road scenes from 1920. I'm in that part of the winter where I am ABSOLUTELY ITCHING TO GET OUT ON THE ROAD, and so I thought I'd share these to help scratch that itch a little.

 

4320178779_b03da6bd67_o.jpg

 

4320910970_a07ee46be2_o.jpg

 

4320177811_9e3c2525b6_o.jpg

 

4320910186_762e2406ba_o.jpg

 

4320909774_632cf2079b_o.jpg

 

4320909324_28eb435714_o.jpg

 

4320176091_8b0538bbc8_o.jpg

 

4320908442_111aa80597_o.jpg

 

Ah. I feel much better now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IAh. I feel much better now!

 

Jim,

 

Even I feel better and I'm not the expert you are on the National Road. Thanks for sharing your nice find.

 

As a small matter, do you think some the cars may have been dubbed in? I often wonder in thses old shots, especially when the car tends to stand out.

 

Dave

 

keep the Show on the Road!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jim,

Thanks for sharing your postcards!

 

A couple of comments...

 

The Gilbert card with the airplane originally had me stumped. I'm quite familiar with that section of road east of Hancock, MD and have traveled it often. Most maps I've seen shows the Road to the north of the Railroad... Like Robert Bruce's map of 1916.

bruce-millstone-piney-grove_lrg.jpg

 

The postcard show the Road between the railroad and the canal. The 1901 USGS Hancock Quad solved the confusion. It shows the Nat'l Road running between the railroad and the Canal from Millstone (East of Hancock) to Parkhead Station. Who knew?

 

As for Gilbert "dubbing" items into a scene, check out this 1907 gem of the LaVale Toll House...

 

Steve

 

odd-tollgate-lavale1_lrg.jpg

 

Do you think the guy on the fence is waiting for the trolley?<g>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jim,

Judging by the contrast and clarity, I'm guessing the kids in the road may have been the focus of the original photo. The toll house keeper with the wagon looks pretty good but the contrast is darker than the area around it and the wagon wheels have a hard edge. The trolley has no tracks and the scale and clarity don't match the original. And... The guys on the toll house porch must be leprechauns. <g>

 

Here's a MD SHA photo I added to the Upper LaVale section yesterday of the National Road east of the Six-Mile House (in the distance) and Toll House (at Winchester Rd.) I believe it's circa early 1930s.

 

sha-winchester-road_lrg.jpg

 

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neat cards Jim - have to say one of them looks familiar to me. :D

 

Dave, in a lot of the old photos of automobiles moving the stretched effect was due to the slower film speeds used back in those days. They also gave, in some cases, an impression that the radiators were leaning fwd with the top out further than the bottom. That may be the case in these photos.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

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...