Every mile tells a story. Long before our modern interstates, America was connected by winding dirt trails, daring pioneer routes, and the ambition of a people on the move.
Welcome to Roads That Built America, an exclusive 6-part video series (plus a bonus Special Feature) that takes you on a historical journey through the evolution of some of America’s earliest roads. From the rutted wagon trails of the frontier to the development of surfaced roads, this video series introduces the roadways that transformed the nation and became the foundation for the engineering marvel of the Interstate Highway System.
Each video features a painting of Carl Rakeman, and associated narrative text of Albert Rose, two employees of the Bureau of Public Roads, who completed a series of 109 portrayals of transportation history in America. Enjoy!
Episode 1: Braddock’s Road
The story of Braddock’s Road is a classic example of “falling forward” – George Washington watched a retreat turn into a massacre, yet he walked away with a mental map of the path that would eventually connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River Valley. An action that turned the wild of the America’s frontier into the literal groundwork for the infrastructure of a new nation.
Episode 2: The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike
We think of technology as something to do with chips and screens. But back in the 18th century, when horses were the main form of transportation, a pile of broken gravel became the equivalent of “high-speed rail.” This transition from muddy trails to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was a massive leap forward in civil engineering and drove one of the Roads that Built America.
Episode 3: The National Pike
It is a beautiful sentiment that roads are more than just asphalt – they are physical threads that bring us to the things that we love. The National Road (sometimes called the Cumberland Road, or National Pike) was just that – a thread that connected our young nation together and fused the vision of the Founding Fathers into a place we celebrate as home.