Maryland uses Macadam to Complete the National Road

The National Road from Baltimore to Cumberland was comprised of a series of privately funded turnpikes. By 1822, the road was complete except for the ten miles between Boonsboro and Hagerstown. In August of the year, under pressure from the state legislature, Boonsboro and Hagerstown bank directors formed the Boonsboro Turnpike Company to complete the final section. The National Road, from Baltimore to Cumberland, was often called the "Bank Road," because the state government enlisted local banks to finance the building of this vital economic link with the west. Federal funding was used to build the road from Cumberland to Wheeling, and eventually to the Mississippi River.

The Turnpike Company used a revolutionary new paving system, invented by Scotsman John Loudon MacAdam. Its use here in 1823 was the first time that true macadam was used in the United States. After a century of macadam, concrete again revolutionized road surfaces in the early 1900s.

(Sidebar) First American Macadam Road. National Road workmen, often wearing goggles to protect their eyes, pounded stones into pieces with small hammers. Inspectors passed each stone through a three-inch ring to assure proper size. Other workers raked the stones level in three layers on a prepared roadbed. The surface was rolled smooth with a cast-iron roller. The top layer, cemented with rain water, became as hard as concrete.

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