Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 4).djvu/204

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200
BRADDOCK'S ROAD

Road, as a route, ceased to be used since portions of it have never been deserted. There are interesting references to it in the records of Allegheny County, Maryland., which bear the dates 1807[1] and 1813[2]. A little later it is plain that "Jesse Tomlinson's" is described "on National Road" rather than on "Braddock's Road," as in 1807.[3] From this it would seem that by 1817 the term "Braddock's Road" was ignored, at least at points where the Cumberland Road had been built upon the old-time track. Elsewhere Braddock's route kept its ancient name and, perhaps, will never exchange it for another.

The rough track of this first highway westward may be followed today almost at any point in all its course between the Potomac and the Monongahela, and the great caverns and gullies which mark so plainly its tortuous course speak as no words can of the sufferings and dangers of those who travelled it during the dark half

  1. Land Records of Allegheny County, Md. Liber E, fol. 191.
  2. Id., Liber G, fol. 251.
  3. Id., Liber I and J, fol. 105.