Roads of Colonial Western Maryland

By Ted Ellis

An in depth look at some of the earliest and most important roads to the settlement and defense of the frontier of Colonial British North America before 1760. Many of these roads passed through Washington County in the western end of the State of Maryland. The actual courses of most are lost to us today, but primary source documents provide a very close understanding of their routes. The author has striven to use multiple sources whenever possible as many single references, particularly maps, have proven to show considerable discrepancies from one to another. Modern tools including detailed topography, and hydrologic data together with satellite images expose features clearly pointing the way of these ancient roads. All are closely followed by modern roads to some degree, which in some cases are still using the same roadbeds identified from the first-half of the 18th century. The book pays considerable attention to documenting the Allegheny Road from Conococheague to Oldtown and Cumberland Maryland before 1750. This is a road long held by Braddock Expedition literature to not have existed. The author offers considerable, indisputable evidence to contradict that understanding. In fact, this book details an unbroken route from today's Washington D.C. all the way to Cumberland. The question then being, why did Braddock and St. Clair choose not to use it? The author has included detailed maps and directions to allow visitors to the area to follow these trails and experience the landmarks and challenges faced by the ancestors. It was the roads allowing travel that made all the storied events of history possible. Every student of the early history of the Mid-Atlantic and southern regions owes it to himself to build a better knowledge of these avenues linking the people, places and events of the past.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0998833045
• ISBN13: 9780998833040
• Release Date: November 2019
• Publisher: Ted Ellis
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"