The drive that shaped America runs right through Maryland, stone bridges and steam trains included

America’s oldest road still has stories to tell

Before interstates, before rail, before cars, there was one road that pointed settlers toward the frontier.

Maryland’s Historic National Road Scenic Byway follows that same path today, from Baltimore in the east all the way to the mountains in the west.

Old stone bridges, a seven-sided toll house, a steam train, and walkable downtowns line the route. You can drive it in a day or spend a weekend working through it slowly.

Either way, you’ll cover ground that shaped the country.

Congress built this road to open the American West

In 1806, Congress approved the first highway funded with federal money.

The goal was to connect the East Coast to the lands opening up beyond the Appalachians, giving settlers a passable road west toward the Ohio River. Wagons, stagecoaches, and families on foot all used it.

Then the railroads arrived in the mid-1800s and traffic dropped off.

By 1926, much of the old road had been folded into U.S. Route 40, and some older sections picked up the name Old National Pike.

An 80-foot stone arch held the country’s record

Just east of Grantsville, the Casselman River Bridge still stands the way it did when workers finished it in the early 1800s.

That 80-foot single-span stone arch was the largest of its kind in the country when it opened, and it carried road traffic for more than a century before retiring from the job.

Today it holds National Historic Landmark status and anchors a small state park.

The bridge itself is fenced off for safety, but the park grounds stay open, and the view from the bank is worth stopping for.

George Washington crossed this same river in the 1750s

The spot around the Casselman bridge has a name, Little Crossings, and a history older than the bridge itself.

A young George Washington passed through in the 1750s, serving as an aide to British General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War. Braddock’s army forded the river right here.

The bridge came later, giving travelers a dry crossing where soldiers once waded through. Historic markers scattered through the park connect those two eras, and the river looks much the same as it did then.

A seven-sided toll house still charges the old rates

Pull into LaVale and you’ll find a building that looks like nothing else on the road.

The LaVale Toll Gate House has seven sides, several small rooms, and a sign out front that still lists the original prices for wagons, animals, and travelers.

Maryland took over its stretch of the National Road in 1835 and built this toll house shortly after. It’s the last one left on Maryland’s portion of the route.

You can walk up to it any time, and guided tours run during the warmer months.

Fish the river or spread out at the picnic tables

The state park around the Casselman Bridge gives you more reasons to linger than just the view. Picnic tables and grills sit along the grounds, and the river draws anglers after trout.

Photographers set up along the bank for the combination of the stone arch, the moving water, and the tree line behind it. Mowed paths let you walk the grounds at your own pace.

It’s a practical stop that works for a 20-minute break or a full afternoon, depending on how the day is going.

Watch woodcarvers and potters work at a stagecoach stop

Near the Casselman Bridge, a cluster of restored log cabins sits on land that once served as a stagecoach stop along the old road.

Spruce Forest Artisan Village now works as a center for local arts and crafts, and when artists are in their shops, you can watch them carve wood or shape clay at the wheel. It’s a hands-on kind of place.

The setting is old, the work is current, and the combination gives you a different angle on what this corridor has been over the years.

The carriage that carried Teddy Roosevelt sits in Frostburg

The Thrasher Carriage Museum in Frostburg started as one man’s private collection, built up by a local named James Thrasher over the years.

What he assembled fills a renovated warehouse and includes carriages, sleighs, carts, and wagons from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The centerpiece is the coach that carried President Theodore Roosevelt to his inauguration. Admission is free.

If horse-drawn vehicles aren’t something you’ve thought much about before, the scale and variety of this collection will change that.

A steam locomotive climbs 1,000 feet through a mountain tunnel

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad runs from Cumberland up into the mountains to Frostburg, and the climb is the whole point.

The route gains nearly 1,000 feet and passes through a long mountain tunnel cut straight through the rock.

The train runs with one of the largest steam locomotives still operating anywhere, though diesel pulls some trips. On weekends, steam is often on the schedule.

When you reach Frostburg, you get about 90 minutes to walk around town before the train heads back down the mountain.

The first smooth American road ran between two Maryland towns

In 1823, a 10-mile stretch of road between Boonsboro and Hagerstown became the first in the United States to use macadam paving.

The technique, named for Scottish engineer John McAdam, packed small crushed stones tightly together to create a surface that held up better and rolled smoother than dirt. Travel got faster.

Trade moved more efficiently.

That short Maryland stretch was the test case for a method that would eventually spread across the country, and you drive over what it started every time you hit a smooth road anywhere.

Townspeople built this Washington monument in a single day

Before the famous one in Washington, D.C., there was this one.

On July 4, 1827, the people of Boonsboro climbed South Mountain and built much of a stone tower honoring George Washington in a single day. It’s considered the first completed monument dedicated to Washington.

The tower sits in a state park now, restored and reachable by trail.

From the top, the view opens in several directions, and on the right days in the fall, the hillside draws people watching for hawks and eagles moving through on their migration south.

Three walkable towns make easy stops along the drive

The byway doesn’t just pass through history; it runs straight through the middle of towns where you can get out and walk.

In Frederick, the road becomes Patrick Street and cuts through a historic district with shops, galleries, and museums spread across several blocks.

Frostburg’s main street lines up old homes and local storefronts in a row worth a slow pass.

Boonsboro, founded in the late 1700s near the base of South Mountain, is compact enough to cover on foot in half an hour. Each town holds enough to justify a stop.

Drive Maryland’s Historic National Road Scenic Byway

You can pick up the byway at Baltimore and follow it all the way to Maryland’s western mountains, tracing the route of America’s first federally funded highway.

Anchor stops include the Casselman River Bridge State Park near Grantsville, the LaVale Toll Gate House at 14302 National Highway in LaVale, the Thrasher Carriage Museum at 19 Depot St. in Frostburg, and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad depot in Cumberland.

The Washington Monument State Park sits off Alt. U.S. 40 near Boonsboro.

Check the official website for current hours and seasonal tour schedules before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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