National Road

The path of America's first federal highway runs more than 824 miles from Baltimore's Inner Harbor to the Mississippi River - including a 170-mile section in Maryland freshly dotted with interpretive markers and outlined in an accompanying guide. Now tourism officials are urging drivers to discover the inns, churches, parks, bridges and scenic overlooks along the Historic National Road, which follows parts of Route 144, U.S. 40 and Interstate 68 across seven Maryland counties. At a promotional kickoff in Ellicott City yesterday, supporters of the Historic National Road unveiled one of 66 new site markers and a map developed with the help of state agencies, local officials and volunteers.

Frostburg is celebrating its bicentennial this weekend. Despite the name Frostburg is not named after Jack Frost or the weather, though the town can become quite frosty with the winds and snow coming down from the Big Savage Mountain . This beautiful historic town in Western Maryland was founded along the path of the National Road originally called Mount Pleasant. The name was changed to Frostburg in honor of Meshach and Catherine Frost , who in 1812 built the first home and tavern for stagecoaches.

Get your kicks on Route 144" may not be catchy enough for a song lyric, but the trip from Baltimore to Cumberland and beyond has a lot to offer people who are happy when the drive is the destination. Following a scenic route that uses mostly Route 144 and Route 40, travelers can retrace the National Road, which was recently named one of the country's 20 All-American Roads by the U.S. Department of Transportation for its historical and scenic value. The government authorized the first federally funded road from Cumberland to Vandalia, Ill., in 1806, and Maryland joined forces with private interests to build an extension from Baltimore to Cumberland around the same time.

When U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a Republican, recently called the House transportation bill the worst such measure he's seen in 35 years of public service, he was being kind. Surely, it's among the worst, most cynically partisan bills to ever threaten U.S. highway and transit infrastructure in all of recorded history. That's because the serious business of building and maintaining roads, bridges, rail systems and other vital transportation assets is usually among the most bipartisan of Congressional actions.

CUMBERLAND -- Despite frenetic lives that propel Americans onto interstates, many still long for the nostalgic drive in the country, a bit of history, lovely scenery around a bend.There's money in it, too.Alabama recently proved that after winning a rare federal "All-American Road" title for the famous route that civil rights marchers followed through gently rolling farmland between Selma and Montgomery. A deluge of grants to bolster tourism and preserve the road's history followed.And in the Victorian-style towns along Colorado's San Juan Skyway, which got the All-American designation in 1996, bed-and-breakfast inns and other tourist-fueled businesses are sprouting.

More than 100 people, worried about the impact of anticipated development along the historic National Road in western Howard County, discovered at a community meeting yesterday that there is little they can do to stop the demolition of two old houses that sit near the highway. The Brantly Development Group is buying the 2.4-acre lot at the southeast corner of the Lisbon roundabout at Route 144 and Route 94. The lot is zoned for a wide range of commercial uses, and Brantly Chairman Hugh F. Cole Jr. said he has applied for a permit from the county to demolish two houses on the property closest to the intersection, while another house and a store will remain.

AT A TIME when Pittsburgh and other well-known "gateway" cities were still nothing more than small settlements, Ellicott City was a gateway to the West, a major stop on America's first east-west interstate, the National Road. President Thomas Jefferson saw the need for the United States to develop its rich resources in the Ohio River valley and beyond. He asked Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin to consider what was needed to make new territories more accessible for settlement and trade.

"The National Road," (489 pages. $34.95) and "A Guide to the National Road," (392 pages. $34.95) both edited by Karl Raitz. (Johns Hopkins U. Press). America's first national highway was established by Congress and begun in 1808, a then-amazing commitment to overland transportation from Maryland to Illinois. These two scholarly, eminently readable and inexhaustably interesting volumes examine and relate the entire enterprise from virtually every imaginable vantage point. The "Guide" is especially rich in maps, illustrations and lore of the past and the present.

WITH the National Road Festival now under way, it's time for a brief review of the history of this roadway that represented America's first transportation link from the East to the western frontier.According to an Associated Press story by reporter Deb Reichmann, "The first portion of what would be called the National Road was conceived in 1797 by a group of Baltimore area bankers and businessmen who wanted to see more trade between the East and expanding territories in the Midwest. The group built a 135-mile stone toll road from Baltimore to Cumberland that was called the Bank Road."

Two commercial highways, one of macadam and the other of steel, with strong Baltimore links changed travel and commerce in America forever.The easternmost section of the National Road was begun in 1797 when Baltimore businessmen and bankers, anxious to find a quick route to the western territories, committed their economic resources to that end, writes Merrit Ierley in "Traveling the National Road: Across the Centuries on America's First Highway (Overlook Press,...

The Miller library branch, 9421 Frederick Road, Ellicott City, will hold auditions for the Ellicott City Idol contest. The grand prize winner will receive $60 and an invitation to sing the national anthem at a Bowie Baysox game. Runners-up (one middle-schooler and one high-schooler) will receive $45 each. Disc jockey Jojo Girard will be emcee and judge. Auditions for middle school pupils will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. June 27; for high school students, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. June 28. Finals will be held 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. June 29. Registration begins June 13. Information or to register: 410-313-1950.

Samantha Luo, 16, a 10th-grader at Centennial High School, has won in the poster category of the 12th Fred Benjamin Peace Awards for Maryland High School Students. The topic illustrated by her poster was "Creating A Culture of Peace." The poster showed two hands clasped in front of a peace sign, surrounded by flags from nine countries. Samantha received a prize of $200. The awards, which also included prizes for poetry and essays, were presented at the 21st annual Maryland Peace and Justice Conference, held April 29 in Baltimore.

The path of America's first federal highway runs more than 824 miles from Baltimore's Inner Harbor to the Mississippi River - including a 170-mile section in Maryland freshly dotted with interpretive markers and outlined in an accompanying guide. Now tourism officials are urging drivers to discover the inns, churches, parks, bridges and scenic overlooks along the Historic National Road, which follows parts of Route 144, U.S. 40 and Interstate 68 across seven Maryland counties. At a promotional kickoff in Ellicott City yesterday, supporters of the Historic National Road unveiled one of 66 new site markers and a map developed with the help of state agencies, local officials and volunteers.

Bold settlers crossing the Allegheny Mountains and heading west nearly two centuries ago pushed through 90 miles of nearly im- penetrable southwestern Pennsylvania backwoods on a ribbon of gravel and stone -- the Cumberland Road -- linking Cumberland and Wheeling, W.Va. Those Pennsylvania woods and adjacent small towns, where the French and Indian War broke out, are tamer these days, and the region is a bit more sophisticated. But residents in this area, about an hour south of Pittsburgh, skirting what is now U.S. 40 -- the National Road -- retain their independent spirit as they borrow what's useful from the 21st century while cherishing their ties to America's beginnings.

From the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad terminus at the bottom of Main Street to Patapsco Female Institute near the top, Ellicott City's varied past is evident throughout the historic downtown, a draw for locals and tourists alike. The B&O Railroad Station, at 2711 Maryland Ave. near the Patapsco River, is the oldest railroad station in the country. The station, which opened in 1830, has not served passengers since 1949. Today it is a museum that highlights the history of Ellicott City while offering insight into what railroading was like in the past.

On February 26, 2003, DENNIS E HINKLE; beloved husband of Mary R. Hinkle (nee Rollins); devoted father of Chaz Hinkle and Anya Eleanor Hinkle; devoted son of Grace Robey; brother of Don Hinkle, Darryl Hinkle, Bonnie Lark, Diane Gorman, Shirley Elsey, Nancy Stansbeary and Gerald Robey; grandfather of Benjamin Austin Hinkle. Friends may call at family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (beltway exit 26A) on Friday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Funeral Service will be celebrated at the Church of the Holy Comforter, Seminary and Bellona Avenues, on Saturday, March 1 at 2:30 P.M. Interment private.

TO the citizens of Cumberland, Wheeling, W. Va., Zanesville, Ohio, and other designated sites, early summer brings a novel celebration: a traveling festival recognizing the National Road. Each weekend, the party mosies down the road to another site, ending up in Muskingum, Ohio, on June 17."We hope the festival brings an awareness of the importance of the road," said Alan King, the director of the National Road Museum in Norwitch, Ohio. "It was the road that opened the West."Or at least what was thought of as the West back in 1797, when Baltimore-area businessmen posited that a western road would increase trade.

Howard County, which began July 4, 1851, as a western outpost of neighboring Anne Arundel County, has started celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion and give readers a sense of what life was like in Howard County 150 years ago, the Howard County edition of The Sun will publish a column on county history and the people who were part of it. The column will appear every Tuesday through the school year on Page 3b. This week's column: Ellicott City was a gateway to the West on the National Road in the early 19th century.

More than 100 people, worried about the impact of anticipated development along the historic National Road in western Howard County, discovered at a community meeting yesterday that there is little they can do to stop the demolition of two old houses that sit near the highway. The Brantly Development Group is buying the 2.4-acre lot at the southeast corner of the Lisbon roundabout at Route 144 and Route 94. The lot is zoned for a wide range of commercial uses, and Brantly Chairman Hugh F. Cole Jr. said he has applied for a permit from the county to demolish two houses on the property closest to the intersection, while another house and a store will remain.

MAIN STREET in Ellicott City was one of the first sections of a highway that President Thomas Jefferson hoped would stretch from Baltimore to the Mississippi River. Now, thanks to the efforts of Ellicott City resident Paul Bridge and others, the "National Road" has received federal recognition as an All-American Road. Bridge attended a ceremony June 13 in Washington at which U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta designated 23 Scenic Byways and 13 All-American Roads. All-American Road is the highest federal designation for a scenic road.