442 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
General Braddock did not live to realize
all the evil consequences
which his defeat brought upon the
frontiers. The road which he had
opened from the Potomac to within seven
miles of Fort Duquesne be-
came again an Indian warpath. In the
three years following this battle
it was used by a few small parties of
French and many bands of Indians
as an open road to the Potomac, whence
they ravaged the English set-
tlements in Virginia, Maryland and
Pennsylvania. General Braddock's
expedition was a failure. The road which
he left through the wilder-
ness proved throughout the war a benefit
to the enemy and an injury
to his own countrymen; but in later
years as a route for immigrants
coming to settle in the Upper Ohio
Valley and afterwards as a com-
munication between the Potomac and the
Monongahela, it proved to be
this unfortunate man's most useful and
most lasting work.
Professor C. L. Martzolff, of Ohio
University, Athens,
Ohio, gave a most interesting account of
the History of "Zane's
Trace." As Mr. Martzolff gave his
address without manuscript
we are unable to reproduce it here, but
for the benefit of our
readers, we refer them to the article on
this subject by Professor
Martzolff published in the Ohio State
Archaeological and His-
torical Publications Vol. XIII, pgs
287-331.
THE OLD MAYSVILLE ROAD.
SAMUEL M. WILSON.
Lexington, Ky.
In this paper we shall deal
exclusively with that part of the ex-
tension of Zane's Trace which is known
in history, as it is commonly
known to this day, as the Maysville Road
or Maysville Pike.
In its main outlines the story of the
old Maysville Road has been
frequently told, and the present writer,
with somewhat limited time for
investigation, can hardly hope to do
more than embellish with a few mat-
ters of detail the somewhat scanty
record.
This Kentucky division of the Maysville
and Zanesville turnpike,
leading from Maysville on the Ohio River
through Washington, Paris
and Lexington, became famous in that it
was made a test case to deter-
mine whether or not the government had
the right to assist in the build-
ing of purely state and local roads by
taking shares of stock in local turn-
pike companies. Congress, in 1830,
passed an Act authorizing a sub-
scription to its capital stock, but
President Jackson promptly vetoed the
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 443
measure. This veto put an end to all
thought of national aid in the pro-
motion of this desired improvement, and
its completion was left to private
enterprise, and to State and County aid
alone.
The opening of Zane's Trace from
Wheeling, in Western Virginia,
through Southeastern Ohio to Limestone
or Maysville on the Kentucky
shore of the Ohio, was expressly
authorized by an Act of Congress which
became a law on the 17th of May, 1796.
Its route lay through Zanes-
ville, Lancaster, Chillicothe, and
Aberdeen, Ohio, while its termini were
Wheeling in Virginia and Limestone in
Kentucky. Besides furnishing
better and more dependable facilities
for the transmission of the mails,
Zane's trace was designed primarily to
afford a landward route of travel
from Kentucky to Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and the other middle and
north Atlantic States. Prior to the
construction of this pioneer pathway,
the principal avenue for travel to and
from Kentucky was Boone's
Blazed Trail through Cumberland Gap,
later known as the Wilderness
Road, and still later as the Wilderness
Turnpike Road, while the water
route by way of the Ohio, with the
cessation of Indian warfare, was daily
growing in importance. Added to the
dangers from attacks of hostile
Indians, there was throughout much of
the year an embarrassing un-
certainty in the stage of the water in
the Ohio, the upstream journey
was a serious undertaking at best, and
then as now the travel up and
down the river was seriously impeded by
protracted drouths in the sum-
mer time, which made navigation
difficult and sometimes impossible.
The pioneer road which connected
Maysville and Lexington followed
in a general sort of way the old buffalo
trail which led into the interior
from or near the mouth of Limestone
Creek on the Ohio River, across
the Licking, at or near the Lower Blue
Licks, and thence crossing North
Elkhorn Creek at a point afterwards
known as Bryan's Station, on
through Lexington, to the Kentucky River
and beyond. Maysville. al-
though incorporated as a town by that
name in 1787, was, until after 1800,
generally known as
"Limestone", and in the region immediately around
the town, was often called "The
Point". The old wagon road, which
followed more or less closely the
buffalo trail above mentioned from
Limestone to Lexington, was frequently
spoken of in 1784-1785, as
"Smith's Wagon Road" because
in the summer of 1783 and earlier, one
Smith of Lexington was the first that
traveled it with a wagon. There
can be little doubt that the Indians and
their British-Canadian allies
and leaders, who attacked the Fort at
Boonesboro and laid siege to Bryan
Station and triumphed in the bloody
disaster at the Blue Licks, followed,
to some extent, at least, this primitive
roadway.
Collins informs us that Simon Kenton,
together with Edward Wal-
ler, John Waller and George Lewis,
erected a block house at Limestone
(now Maysville), in February, 1784, and
that the road from this place,
by way of the Lower Blue Licks, to
Lexington became the favorite
avenue for immigration.
444 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The attention of Kentucky, after
becoming a State, was first di-
rected toward the care and improvement
of the Wilderness Road, which
gave access to Kentucky through
Cumberland Gap, and until well into
the nineteenth century was the route
most commonly traveled by immi-
grants to Kentucky, and for that reason
was best known to the first
settlers of the State. The first general
Act passed by the Kentucky
Legislature concerning public roads was
approved February 25, 1797. In
his prelection to this Act, William
Littell, who compiled a valuable col-
lection of the early statute laws of
Kentucky, explains that this general
law was "little more than a
transcript of an Act of Virginia of 1785;
that an antecedent Act of 1748 (which
was not repealed by the Act of
1785) required that all roads passing to
or from the Court-house of
every County, and all public mills and
ferries then made or thereafter
to be made, should, at all times, be
kept well cleared from woods,
bushes and other obstructions, and all
roots well grubbed up thirty feet
wide."
This Act of February, 1797, provided for
the opening of new
roads and the alteration of former roads
under surveyors appointed by
the County Courts. By it, all male
laboring persons, sixteen years old
or more, were required to work the roads
except those who were masters
of two or more male slaves over said
age. or, failing to do so, to pay a fine
of seven shillings, sixpence, equivalent
to $1.25 of United States cur-
rency. A curious provision of the law
required mill dams to be built,
where there were no bridges, at least
twelve feet wide for the passage of
public roads, with bridges over the pier
head and flood gates.
The Fayette County Court, by an order
entered April 12, 1803,
established "the Limestone Road
from Lexington to the Bourbon line
forty feet wide," to pass over
"the same ground where they run at pres-
ent." The same Court, by an order
entered July 10, 1809, directed certain
persons, appointed Commisisoners, to
"contract with some fit person
to causeway with stone across David's
Fork on the Limestone Road to be
paid for out of the next County
levy." An order of the same Court,
under date of August 14, 1809, calls the
road the "Limestone or Bourbon
Road."
Littell's Laws give an Act approved Jan.
31, 1811, "authorizing a
Lottery to improve the Limestone Road
from Maysville to the south end
of Washington in Mason County." It
was provided that the "drawing
of said Lottery shall be done at the
town of Washington in the County
of Mason." A sum not exceeding five
thousand dollars was, by the pro-
visions of the Act, to be raised and
applied to the improvement of the
road leading from Limestone, in Mason
County, through the town of
Washington, as followeth, to-wit:
One-half of the profits of said Lot-
tery to be applied exclusively to the
improvement of that part of the
road which lies between Maysville and
the top of Limestone hill; and the
other half of said profits to be applied
to the improvement of such part
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 445
of said road from the top of the
Limestone Hill to the south end of the
town of Washington, and in such manner
as to the said managers, or
a majority, shall seem most expedient.
Littell's Laws again give an Act
approved February 4, 1817, "to
incorporate the Lexington and Louisville
Turnpike Road Company, and
to incorporate the Lexington and
Maysville Turnpike Road Company."
The preamble to this act
recites--"Whereas, in all countries the foster-
ing care of government has been extended
to the internal improvement
thereof, and particularly to their
public roads; and in no country is
that particular part of internal
improvement more desirable than in a
country where the government is of the
people; the Legislature of Ken-
tucky being impressed with the public
utility as well as the private ad-
vantage to the citizens of this
Commonwealth from the formation of
artificial roads, and being willing to
aid all in their power to effect so
great and desirable an object; and
whereas this legislature, with anxious
anticipation, looks forward to the time
when the great national turnpike
road from the east of the general
government will reach the boundaries
of Kentucky, and that she may be ready
to meet this great national im-
provement; therefore
"Be it enacted, etc. (Sec. 31) That a company shall be formed un-
der the name, style and title to the
'Maysville and Lexington Turnpike
Road Company,' for the purpose of
forming an artificial road from Mays-
ville through Washington and Paris, and
thence to Lexington. The
Capital Stock of said Company shall be
three hundred and fifty thousand
($350,000) dollars, divided into three
thousand five hundred (3,500)
shares of $100.00 each," etc., of
which (it was further provided) five
hundred (500) shares shall be reserved
for the use and on behalf of the
State. This capital might be increased
"to such an extent as shall be
deemed sufficient to accomplish the
work," should it be found on trial
that the amount provided was
insufficient to complete the road according
to the intent of the Act.
Books for subscriptions to stock were to
be opened at Maysville,
Washington, Mayslick, Carlisle,
Millersburg, Paris and Lexington.
The old road seems to have passed
through, or very near, each of
these points, with the exception of
Carlisle, which did not come directly
into the main line of travel until the
Maysville Turnpike Road was finally
built.
Although no lasting organization was
affected, and no work appears
to have been done in pursuance of this
Act, its provisions are interesting
as shedding some light on the conditions
of travel, and the stage to which
the science and art of road-building had
advanced. It was proposed to
construct "an artificial road by
the best and nearest route from Maysville,
through Washington and Paris to
Lexington," and the Commissioners
designated in the Act were enjoined to
"combine shortness of distance
with the most practicable ground."
The use of the word "artificial" in
446 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
this connection is not without
significance. It implies that
theretofore
dependence had been placed rather
largely on the "natural" ways, the
sometimes aimless, ready-made ways of
the Indian and the Buffalo, and
other denizens of the forest. These
first pathways, whether trace or
trail, generally followed the line of
least resistance, while holding loosely
to the objective points sighted by instinct,
or the bearings of the crude
compasses provided by nature in the
appearance and movement of the
heavenly bodies, the growth of the
forest vegetation, the trend of moun-
tain and stream, and the other more
prominent features of the landscape.
Such a crude and primitive affair had
been the "Old Limestone
Road" in its beginnings, though
there is evidence that wagons passed
over it as early as 1783.
The officers and managers of the Company
were authorized and
directed to employ such number of
surveyors, engineers, "artists" and
chain-bearers as might be necessary to
make surveys, etc. They were
also empowered to condemn quarries, to
erect permanent bridges wher-
ever necessary over the creeks and
waters crossed by the new "route
or track," to build a road fifty
feet in width by said route from the
town of Maysville to the town of
Lexington, and of said fifty feet to
make "an artificial road at least
twenty feet in width, of firm, compact
and substantial materials, composed of
gravel, pounded stone or other
small, hard substances, in such manner
as to secure a good foundation
and an even surface, so far as the
nature of the country and the materials
will admit, in the whole extent of the
said road, whenever it shall be
necessary and the natural surface
require it, so as to fulfill the duties
of the said Company toward the public,
and shall forever maintain and
keep the same in good repair." It
was further provided that "the ground
over which the contemplated road passes,
shall be so dug down and
leveled, that when completed the
elevation thereof shall not exceed five
degrees."
On completing as much as ten miles of
the way, and for every
five miles additional, the company was
to be empowered, by license from
the Governor, to erect gates or
turnpikes, at which tolls might be col-
lected from persons using the road.
We get some idea of the varied
assortment of quaint vehicles then
in use from the references, in
prescribing the rates of toll, to sulkies,
chairs, coaches, chaises, phaetons,
stages, carts, wagons, coachees or
light wagons, sleighs, sleds, or
"other carriage of burthen or pleasure,
under whatever name it may go."
"And when any such carriage as
aforesaid," says the Act,
"shall be drawn by oxen or mules, in whole
or in part, two oxen shall be estimated
as equal to one horse, and every
mule as equal to one horse, in charging
the aforesaid tolls."
With reference to mile-posts or
milestones, and the tariffs on travel,
the Act provided that "the said
Company shall cause posts to be erected
at the intersection of every road
falling into and leading out of the
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 447
said turnpike road, with boards and an
index hand pointing to the direc-
tion of such road, on both sides whereof
shall be inscribed, in legible
characters, the name of the town or
place to which such road leads, and
the distance thereof in measured or
computed miles; and shall also
cause milestones to be placed on the
side of the said turnpike road, to
designate the distances to and from the
principal places thereof; and
also shall cause to be affixed on the
gates to be erected, for the informa-
tion of travelers and others using said
road, a printed list of the rates
of toll, which, from time to time, may
be lawfully demanded."
Other details of construction,
maintenance and management were
carefully set out, but enough has been
given to show the comprehensive
nature of the charter. In their leading
features, all the subsequent Acts
of the Kentucky Legislature
incorporating turnpike road companies are
modeled after this initial Act of
February, 1817.
The powers conferred by this original
charter having lapsed for
the want of compliance with its terms,
ten years later, by an Act ap-
proved January 22, 1827, the Maysville
and Lexington Turnpike Road
Company was reincorporated, with a
capital stock of three hundred and
twenty thousand ($320,000.00) dollars,
of which, at any time within three
years after complete organization, the
United States government was
authorized to subscribe one hundred
thousand ($100,000.00) dollars and
the State of Kentucky a like sum.
Collins, to whom we arelargely indebted
for items of information
embodied in this paper, tells us that
General Thomas Metcalfe, after-
wards Governor of Kentucky, then a
Representative in Congress from the
Maysville District, brought before
Congress the subject of an appropria-
tion for the proposed turnpike, but too
late in the winter session of
1826-27 for immediate success. This
action was doubtless prompted by
a resolution addressed to Congress and
adopted by the Kentucky Legis-
lature on the 25th day of January, 1827,
in which the co-operation and
assistance of the general government
were earnestly solicited. An Act
passed on the same date, supplemental to
the original Act incorporating
the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike
Road Company, required the
proposed turnpike to pass through Paris,
Millersburg, Carlisle, Lower
Blue Licks, Mayslick and Washington,
provided, however, that it should
not run through the town of Carlisle,
unless a majority of the Com-
missioners, having the matter in charge,
should deem it expedient.
General Metcalfe's labors were not
entirely in vain, for he suc-
ceeded in inducing the Secretary of War
to order a survey for the
location of a great leading mail road
from Zanesville, in Ohio, through
Maysville and Lexington, in Kentucky,
and Nashville, Tennessee, on to
Florence, Alabama, and thence to New
Orleans. On May 12, 1827, pur-
suant to this order, Col. Long, and
Lieut. Trimble, of the United States
Engineering Department, began the survey
at Maysville.
448 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
In the meantime, if we may take the
records of the Fayette County
Court as a sample, the Courts of the
several counties through which it
passed were having constant trouble with
the old Limestone Road. One
of the main obstructions to travel on
this road, in Fayette County, was
a body of water known as "Wright's
Pond." On July 9, 1827, the Fay-
ette County Court ordered that
"William Burkley and William Smith be
summoned to appear here at next Court to
show cause, if any they can,
why the Limestone Road shall not be
altered so as to pass around
Wright's Pond and over their land, said
pond being impassable, and
said road having to pass through
it."
Again on January 16, 1828, the Order
Book of the Court recites
that "it appearing to the
satisfaction of the Court that the bridge now
building across Wright's Pond on the
Limestone Road will not, as now
let by the Commissioners, be as high as
high water mark, it is there-
fore ordered that Clifton Thompson, Will
Pollock and James Rogers be
appointed Commissioners to let out to
the lowest bidder the raising of
said bridge twelve inches higher than it
is now contracted for, if they
think it necessary."
On June 9, 1828, the following
interesting item appears on the
Fayette County records. We give this
instance as illustrative of the
work that was doubtless done from time
to time all along the route in
all the counties through which this
historic highway passed.
The record reads: "The report of
the Commissioners appointed to
review the pond on the Limestone road
known by the name of Wright's
pond, was this day returned to Court and
on examining of the same, it
is ordered that the same be received and
concurred in; Whereupon it
is ordered that Clifton Thomson, James
Rogers and Beverly A. Hicks
be and they are hereby appointed
Commissioners to let the building of
the bridge agreeable to said report, and
that they, in letting said bridge,
do not exceed the sum of five hundred
dollars, including the appropria-
tions already made for said bridge and
that said Commissioners be
authorized to draw upon the Sheriff for
the appropriation or appropria-
tions already made. The said
Commissioners are directed to have the
bridge built as follows, viz: with two
stone walls built on a good founda-
tion two and a half feet or more thick,
raised above high water mark,
at least twenty-one feet apart from side
to side, and said walls to be
filled up with earth within one foot of
the top of said walls, and one
foot to be filled up with stone hammered
fine, with all necessary timbers
to make a safe passway for travelers,
with hand rails, the timbers of
black locust or good white oak, the
stone and timbers of the old bridge
to be used for the benefit of the
undertaker of the proposed bridge; also
with an arch in the walls to admit the
water to pass through, and that
said Commissioners take from the
contractor a contract or bond with
sufficient penalty and good security for
the performance of his or their
contract."
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 449
This bridge was built by Samuel
Patterson according to specifica-
tions, and was duly accepted on October
31, 1829.
A permanent bridge over David's Fork of
North Elkhorn, at the
point where crossed by the Limestone
Road, was also contemplated at
the same time. This bridge, as later
records show, was erected by
Robert Wickliffe, who, for a number of
years, maintained a mill at the
same point.
That the situation of this road as a public
highway was growing
somewhat desperate may be inferred from
the fact that the Legislature
of Kentucky, by resolution adopted on
February 13, 1828, seconding the
initiative taken by General Metcalfe,
recommended Congress to extend
a branch of the National Road from
Zanesville, Ohio, to Maysville, Ken-
tucky, and thence through the State of
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama
and Mississippi, to New Orleans, and
instructed the Kentucky Senators
and requested the Kentucky
Representatives in Congress to use their
utmost exertions to effect this object.
A bill with an appropriation for
this very purpose, we are told, passed
the United State House of Repre-
sentatives, but its effect was defeated
in the United States Senate by the
vote of one of the Senators from Kentucky,
the Hon. John Rowan. Its
passage at that time, in the spring of
1828, when President John Quincy
Adams was ready and willing to approve
the bill, would almost certainly
have secured the prompt completion of
the road by national and state
aid.
That for several years prior to this
application to Congress there
had existed a great central thoroughfare
leading southward from Ohio
to New Orleans is apparent from the
language of an Act of the Kentucky
Legislature approved December 21, 1821,
providing for the improvement
of "the road leading from Lexington
to Nashville, in Tennessee," etc.
The preamble and first section of this
act read as follows:-
"Whereas it is represented to the
present General Assembly that
the great highway leading from the
northwest of the Ohio and upper
settlements of this state, to the states of Tennessee, Alabama and Orleans
country, is much out of repair, and
particularly at Muldrough's Hill,
near the Rolling Fork; and that owing to
the quantity of labor requisite
to put the said road in repair, and the
thinness of the population in the
neighborhood, the said road cannot be
put in repair with the ordinary
labor of the overseers and hands
allotted to work on the said road:
Therefore,
"Sec. 1, Be it Enacted by the
General Assembly of the Common-
wealth of Kentucky, That the sum of one
thousand dollars be, and the
same is, hereby appropriated for the
purpose of opening and improving
the said road, across the said
hill," etc.
This great interstate highway did not
await the introduction of
macadam or the helping hand of the
national government to come into
Vol. XVIII-29.
450 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
existence and use. What Kentucky sought
so persistently was aid in
improving and extending the rough
rudimentary road already established
and long the most eligible avenue of
approach to the inviting regions of
the South and Southwest.
While action by the federal government
was thus delayed, those
interested in the enlargement and
improvement of the road were not
idle. By an Act of the Legislature,
approved January 24, 1829, "for
widening the road from Lexington to
Maysville," the County Courts of
Fayette, Bourbon, Nicholas, Fleming and
Mason, were required to appoint
Commissioners, together with a surveyor
duly qualified, to examine "the
great road leading from Lexington through Paris, Millersburg,
Lower
Blue Licks, Mayslick and Washington to
Maysville," and to lay off a strip
or strips of ground, "through its
whole length," sufficient to increase its
width to sixty feet, "and they
shall report to the County Court of their
several Counties, as soon as may be, a
plat and proper description of the
addition thus made * * * and it shall be
the duty of the said several
county courts to cause to be recorded by
their Clerk a plat and descrip-
tion of so much of said road as is
within their respective counties, as
the same shall be enlarged and
established under the provisions of this
Act." Pursuant to this Act, on
March 9, 1829, the Fayette County Court
appointed Commissioners to widen and
straighten the Limestone Road
from Lexington to the Bourbon County
line. These Commissioners pro-
ceeded to execute their duties promptly
and faithfully, and made a very
full and comprehensive report to the
Court on November 9, 1829, said
report being forthwith approved and
recorded.
Some idea of the importance of
maintaining taverns along the route
for the accommodation of travelers may
be gathered from the fact that
the Act carefully provides "that no
such new way shall be established,
if it shall pass over a different side
of, or at a greater distance than
the present road does, from any house
now occupied as a tavern on the
present road, unless with the concurrence of two-thirds of the
justices
present in Court. or with the consent of
the proprietor of such house."
After being established and opened in
accordance with the directions
of the Act, it was made the duty of the
several surveyors of the road,
"to keep it open, smooth and in
good repair." With this improvement
completed we, doubtless, see the old
"Limestone Road" at its very
best. Gradually thenceforward, the
Maysville Turnpike was to supersede
the famous route, growing more and more
important as the importance
of the earlier road dwindled. Strong
proof of the importance of the old
Limestone Road is to be found in the
tenacity with which those living
along the route and at its termini,
Maysville and Lexington, clung to
the old name. In Fayette, and doubtless
in the other counties through
which it passed, not only did the old
road retain its name and continue
to do service as a public road, but the
new macadamized thoroughfare
constructed by the "Maysville and
Lexington Turnpike Road Company,"
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 451
and properly known as the Maysville Road
or Maysville Pike was, until
quite recent times, frequently spoken of
by persons of the older genera-
tion, as the "Limestone Road",
though, in strictness, the Limestone Road
throughout nearly its entire length must
have followed an entirely differ-
ent route, at no great distance,
however, from the more modern road
and substantially parallelling its course.
Five days after the passage of the last
mentioned Act "for widen-
ing the road from Lexington to
Maysville," by the same Legislature the
"Maysville and Washington Turnpike
Road Company" was incorporated
for the purpose of forming an
"artificial road" from Maysville to the
south end of Washington, in Mason
County. This road was required to be
located on as direct a line as the
toilsome grade would admit, and
from the north end of the main street of
Washington to the top of
Limestone Hill. But it was to be
"so leveled and graded that when
completed the elevation thereof shall
not exceed four degrees and a half."
This Act is illustrative of the notable
public spirit which at that
time animated the little town of
Maysville, which could only boast of
a population of less than two thousand.
The capital stock of twenty
thousand ($20,000) dollars was
subscribed by local friends of the en-
terprise by April 18, 1829, and the
first shovel of dirt was thrown on
July 4, 1829, and this short stretch of "high-way"-for
a high-way it
literally was,-was completed in
November, 1830. This four miles of
roadway was the first macadamized road
ever built in the State of Ken-
tucky, although the introduction of
McAdam's invention was the signal
for immediate and widespread interest in
the subject of so improving
the public roads of the State.
From an enginering standpoint this part
of the route offered by far
the most difficult problem to be solved.
The accomplished litterateur
Dr. Thomas E. Pickett, has kindly
furnished the writer of this paper a
very striking picture of Maysville as
viewed from the top of the over-
hanging Limestone hill. This picture
brings out with great effect the
beautiful and artistic construction of
the winding roadway which leads
from the valley below to the crest of the frowning hill. Dr. Pickett
accompanied this picture with the
following observations-
"In your first letter you asked me
to give you a helping hand at
this end of the line. It occurred to me
that nothing could give you more
help at the outset than a picture of the
'Maysville End,' showing the
great river with which the old
commercial entrepot connects, and giving
some conception of the prodigious 'lift'
required to reach the fertile, far-
reaching plateau. As it was with St.
Denis, so it was with us;- so it was
the first step that cost."
"The moving spirit in the
enterprise was John Armstrong, one of
our early commercial pioneers, and a man
of wonderful energy, sagacity
and tact, who had the full confidence of
the community and means of
finding helpful associates in the work.
The picture shows you that
452 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the work was well done. Years
afterwards, when his son, an eminent
banker of Paris, familiarly known to
this day as 'Baron Armstrong',
was toiling up the broad macadamized
road that rises from the city of
Fontainebleau to the Forest at the
summit, he is said to have remarked
-'Well, Father made a better grade than
this for the Maysville Hill.'"
Think of a road that, rising from the
humble conditions of 'Smith's
Wagon Road" (1783) to the dignity
and importance of a thoroughfare
that 'fills a nation with its renown,'
has been traveled by princes, war-
riors, statesmen, pleasure seekers,
'night riders', patrollers and mounted
police, and carried for many years in
its great white 'waggons' the com-
merce of many states! What a theme! How
I envy you the privilege
and opportunity of exploiting it. Do not
stop with a single 'paper'. Write
a book!"
By an Act of the Kentucky Legislature
approved January 22, 1830,
the Act of January 29, 1829, creating
the Maysville and Washington
Turnpike Road Company was amended so
that the name of the Com-
pany was changed to "Maysville,
Washington, Paris and Lexington Turn-
pike Road Company," and it was
authorized to extend its road to Lex-
ington. The capital stock was increased
$300,000.00 in addition to that
previously authorized, and by the terms
of this Act the elevation was
not to exceed four degrees, and its width
was not to exceed sixty (60)
feet. This Act, like its forerunner of
January 22, 1827, made a direct
appeal to the general government for a
subscription to its capital stock,
fifteen hundred shares of the par value
of $150,000.00 being the amount
which the general government was desired
to subscribe and pay for.
Immediately following the passage of
this act, and in order to aid the
enterprise which it contemplated, the
State of Kentucky, on January 29,
1830, authorized its first appropriation
to an "artificial or macadamized
road, this appropriation, however, of
$25,000.00 to stock in the company,
being conditioned upon the subscription
and payment by other stock-
holders of at least three times the
amount so subscribed. While this
beginning of great things in the future
was thus vigorously inaugurated,
the cause of internal improvement,
especially as it affected the State of
Kentucky, was being earnestly pressed
before Congress. In that body
a bill passed the House of
Representatives, April 29, 1830, by one hun-
dred and two yeas to eighty-four nays,
"authorizing and directing the
Secretary of the Treasury to subscribe,
in the name and for the use of
the United States, for fifteen hundred
(1,500) shares of the capital stock
of the Maysville, Washington, Paris and
Lexington Turnpike Road Com-
pany," to be paid for in the same
installments as by the stockholders
generally except that not more than
one-third should be demanded during
the year 1830. This Bill passed the
United States Senate, May 15, 1830,
by a vote of twenty-four to eighteen,
George M. Bibb, of Kentucky
voting against it, and his colleague,
John Rowan, of Kentucky, voting for
it only under the compulsion of
"instructions."
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 453
"But President Andrew
Jackson," says Collins, "dashed forever the
hopes of national aid to works of
internal improvement in Kentucky by
vetoing the bill twelve days after its
passage on May 27, 1830." This
extraordinary action of the President
(which by many was ascribed to
his intense antipathy to Henry Clay, an
able and indefatigable advocate
of all measures having to do with the
internal improvements of a state
or national character,) gave to the road
a fame as broad as the Union,
but of no avail towards its completion,
unless it may have stimulated
somewhat or aroused afresh the
enthusiasm excited the year before by
the spirited and independent course of
the brave little city of Maysville,
by whose name the road has always since
been best known.
The lively interest taken by Henry Clay
in the matter is apparent
from his correspondence. Writing
from Ashland, on May 9th, 1830,
Mr. Clay said:
"I am rejoiced at the passage, in
the House of Representa-
tives, of the bill for the Maysville
road. I sincerely hope you are
correct in your anticipation of the
concurrence of the Senate. The
South will, of course, be opposed to it.
* * * The road, consid-
ered as a section of one extending from
the Muskingum or Scioto,
through Kentucky and Tennessee, to the
Gulf of Mexico, is really
of national importance."
Writing, a month later, from the same
place, to Adam Beatty, of
Maysville, he said:
"We are all shocked and mortified
by the rejection of the
Maysville road and other events
occurring at the close of the late
session. Meetings of the people are
contemplated in several counties
in this quarter, to give expression to
public sentiment and feelings.
At those meetings it has been suggested
that the public sentiment
may be expressed in terms of strong
disapprobation of the act of
the President. * * * Will you have a
meeting in Mason? If
you do, it will have beneficial
consequences that there should be as
many meetings as practicable in
adjoining counties."
The nature of the proceedings proposed
to be had at these indigna-
tion meetings is further outlined in a
letter of Mr. Clay's, dated at Ash-
land, June 16, 1830, in which he says:
"Great sensation has been produced
in this quarter about the
President's course relative to Internal
Improvements. Public meet-
ings of the people, in various places,
are about to be had, at which
spirited resolves, etc., will be passed.
They mean to attack the
Veto, by proposing an amendment of the
Constitution, requiring
only a majority of all elected to each
branch of Congress, instead
of two-thirds of a house, to pass a
returned bill."
But all of these protests and appeals
and others of similar import
fell upon deaf ears and obdurate hearts
and were utterly unavailing.
454 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
"Old Hickory," in spite of
bitter opposition and plenty of severe abuse,
not all of which was wholly undeserved,
continued for the time to have
his own unrestrained, autocratic way in
the matter of the Bank of the
United States and in the matter of
Internal Improvements.
In addition to the state aid referred to
above, during the month of
April, 1830, $30,500.00 was subscribed
at Paris, $13,000.00 at Lexington,
$5,200.00 at Millersburg, $8,000.00 in
Nicholas County, $10,300.00 at Mays-
ville, in addition to what the last
named town had already done in build-
ing the road from the river as far as
Washington. Other efforts, soon
afterwards, increased the subscription,
and thirty-one miles of the road
were promptly put under contract. The
Legislature, by an Act approved
January 15, 1831, authorized the
Governor, on behalf of the Common-
wealth, to subscribe $50,000.00 for five
hundred additional shares of
stock in the company, and during the
next five years made other appro-
priations in behalf of the road until
the whole amount of State aid and
stock was $213,200.00, or exactly
one-half of the entire cost of the road.
The turnpike road appears to have been
completed throughout its entire
length of sixty-four miles from
Maysville to Lexington by the year 1835.
Its total cost was $426,400.00,
including thirteen toll houses and six
covered bridges. The cost per mile,
including the toll houses and bridges,
was $6,662.50 or nearly one-third the
cost of building a first-class rail-
road. Not only was the Maysville Road
the first macadamized road in
the State, but because of its
importance, it was made one of the best
roads ever built in the State. It is
said that Mr. Lewis V. Wernwag
built the bridges, which were
single-span arches of wood, braced by a
trussed frame, and they were good
bridges for many years. On the
Lexington and Danville Turnpike, which
was but a link in the extension
of the "Old Maysville Road,"
he built a bridge over the Kentucky River
about 220 feet long, with a double
track. This bridge, built in 1838, is
still there--seventy years after--in
good shape. This is a long life
for any ordinary wooden bridge. This
same capable bridge builder (it
may be added, in passing,) afterwards
built the Schuylkill Bridge at
Philadelphia, three hundred and forty
(340) feet long, which was for
a long time the longest wooden bridge in
the world.
Referring again to the records of the
Fayette County Court, a few
stray items relating to the road may be
considered worthy of mention.
On October 13, 1834, a levy was
authorized to raise $150.00 to pay the
interest on the installment for stock
due the Maysville and Lexington
Turnpike Road Company in 1835. The
payments on the stock in the
company subscribed for by Fayette County
appear to have been antici
pated, for under date of December 8,
1834, the last installment of
$2,650.00 was directed to be paid and a
certificate for stock due the
county to be obtained therefor.
Following this entry on December 14,
1835, the records show that Oliver Keen,
late Presiding Justice of the
Court, returned to the Court the
certificate of stock in the Maysville,
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley
Historical Association. 455
Washington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike
Road Company, for 100 shares,
numbers 1525-1624 inclusive, dated
December 14, 1834, signed by John
Armstrong, President, and William
Huston, Treasurer. The jealousy
with which the County Courts looked upon
any interference with their
authority over the county roads is most
emphatically shown in two
entries, one under date of August 12,
1834, and the other under date
of September 8, 1834. By these orders,
the Acts of the Kentucky Legis-
lature of the 22nd and 30th of January,
1830, seeking to deprive the
County Courts of their jurisdiction over
the public roads, and to confer
such jurisdiction on special Road
Commissioners, were boldly declared
unconstitutional and void, and the Court
announced that it would not
regard them, but "will continue to
act under the road laws as if said
above recited Acts had never
passed." The first mention we find of any
dividend paid to the County on its stock
appears during the years 1838
and 1839.
Supplanted as it was by the more modern
Maysville Turnpike Road,
the old original road is now frequently
spoken of in the records as "the
Old Limestone Road," still in use,
it is true, but eclipsed by the splendor
and superiority of the macadamized
turnpike road. It remained a County
Road under the name of the Limestone
Road until near the beginning
of the Civil War. This old Limestone
Road, in Fayette County, pur-
sued an entirely different route from
that adopted by its successor, the
Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Road,
though the general direction
of the two was the same.
The condition of the parent road,
throughout much of its history
until macadamized but especially during
the years of its infancy, and
under the stress of inclement weather,
was simply atrocious. The records
of that day but echo the execrations of
the toil-worn travelers and the
letters which have survived are filled
at times with complaints about its
dreadful condition and with warnings to
those about to visit the West
not to venture on so treacherous and
forbidding a route. It was a Ken-
tuckian, I believe, who said he did not
mind walking when he had paid
to ride in the stage, but he did not
like to walk and "pack" a rail to
help pry the stage coach out of the
mudholes which frequently punctu-
ated the customary line of travel. This
was true, however, not only of
the Maysville Road but of Zane's Trace
and of the Cumberland Road as
well. There were frequent changes and
alterations in the roadway, gen-
erally to avoid a troublesome hill or to
skirt standing water or miry
ground, and owing to these numerous and
irregular changes, the way
became devious as well as difficult. The
orders of the County Court of
Fayette, during the first half-century
of the road's existence, are taken
up with the establishment of road
precincts and the appointment of over-
seers and surveyors, as the road
superintendents were then called. In
this we have striking evidence of the
constant and increasing attention
demanded by the unsatisfactory condition
of the road. At certain sea-
456 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
sons, however, the Maysville Road and
its connecting routes to the
East were not only endurable but offered
the only sure passage to and
from the sea-board. This is made plain
in another letter of Henry
Clay's, written from Washington on
February 10, 1837, where he says:
"In the month of March, the
Cumberland route offers ad-
vantages so superior to any other, that
I must follow it to Ken-
tucky."
Elsewhere he expresses the same opinion
in these words--
"At the season of the year when we
shall return to Kentucky,
that is, about the 10th of March, we
have no alternative but to pro-
ceed to Wheeling or Pittsburg. The roads
on every other route
will then be almost impassable."
A passage in the Autobiography of Judge
Robertson shows that,
when a member of Congress in 1817-1819,
he traveled over this road in
journeying to and from Washington, and
at least two of his colleagues,
Col. Richard M. Johnson and Hon. John J.
Crittenden, did the same,
Col. Johnson in a Jersey wagon and the
others on horseback. We give
the account of his first trip in his own
words.
"When I received the certificate of
my election," says Judge
Robertson, "I was not twenty-six
years old; but I did not take
my seat until I was about ten days over
twenty-seven. The best
mode of traveling then was on horseback;
and I thus went to Wash-
ington in November, 1817, and also in
1818, and consumed nineteen
days in the first, and seventeen days in
the latter trip. Members of
Congress then earned their allowance of
three dollars for every
twenty miles of travel, which was
comparatively tedious, toilsome
and expensive. And I will here mention
an incident in my first trip
to Washington, which may be as useful as
it is incredible: I
bought a blooded three-year old horse
for my first journey to the
National Capital. He had never been
shod. An old friend in Gar-
rard (Elijah Hyatt), who was famous for
both skill anl care in
the management of horses, took my young
horse and prepared him
for the work before him. The day before
I started for my desti-
nation, he selected the iron and the
shoes, saw the shoes put on and
every nail made and driven; and when he
brought the horse to me,
he said, 'Now, George, all's right; your
horse will carry you over
the long and rocky road to Washington
without breaking a shoe
or loosening a nail.' And so it turned
out. Several gentlemen
who accompanied me frequently had their
horses' shoes removed
or repaired, and mine reached Washington
with his shoes appa-
rently as sound and firm as when I
started. I sent him to the
country to be kept during the session,
which continued about seven
months. He was brought in to me the day
I left for home, and the
keeper told me he had used him as his
saddle horse, and never had
touched his shoes, which appeared as
good as ever. Being impa-
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 457
tient to start, I did not have them
examined, but rode him as he was
to Wheeling, brought him to Maysville on
a flatboat or ark, and
rode him thence to Lancaster; and when I
reached home his hoofs
and shoes seemed to be in good
condition!"
Henry Clay was familiar with the entire
length of the road, of
which (as we have seen) he was always a
staunch friend and champion,
and frequent allusions to it may be
found in his speeches and correspond-
ence. Writing to his wife from
Maysville, on November 19, 1835, while
en route to Washington City, he gives this glimpse of the
hospitable
home of another distinguished Kentucky
statesman, whose services and
whose name are closely associated with
the history of the Maysville Road.
Says Mr. Clay-
"I got to Governor Metcalfe's last
night in good time, and
reached here today at two o'clock. The
weather has been very fine,
and my ride was a very good one. They
tell me that a steamboat
will be here this evening, in which,
when it arrives, I shall embark.
I have directed Aaron to go to Governor
Metcalfe's tomorrow night,
and the next day home."
This home of Governor Thomas Metcalfe's,
known as "Forest Re-
treat," was in Nicholas County, of
which for many years he was the
most prominent citizen. An interesting
picture of the residence, which
was a landmark on the old Maysville
Road, is given by Collins (Hist.
Ky., Vol. II., p. 653,) as it appeared
in 1846, and of the eminent man
himself, who was strong enough in a
close race to beat the gifted William
Taylor Barry for the governorship of
Kentucky, the historian says -
"He was an eloquent man, social,
hospitable, fond to the last of song,
frolic and fun."
Doubtless a search of the papers and
writings of our other early
statesmen would disclose a like intimate
acquaintance and similar interest-
ing associations with this well-traveled
highway.
Luckily our researches have unearthed an
early map of the "Road
from Limestone to Frankfort in
Kentucky," which was published in the
year 1826. It will be found in a
collection of maps and drawings made by
a Frenchman, Victor Collot (Georges
Henri Victor Collot), printed in
Paris as an Atlas in 1826. The title of
the book, which may be seen in
the Map Department of the Congressional
Library at Washington, is
"Voyage dans l'Amerique
Septentrionale, feu par le General Collot, Ex-
Gouverneur de la Guadeloupe, Atlas,
Paris, Arthur Bertrand, Libraire,
1826." The Map of the Maysville
Road (designated as the "Road from
Limestone to Frankfort in the State of
Kentucky") is drawn to a scale
of about four miles to the inch and is
Plate 22 in the collection. The
places named on the map are as follows
"Limestone, Washington, (Road
to Bracken" leading thence to the
West,) Northern branch of the Lick-
ing, Lee's Cr., Mazeleak (Mayslick),
Johnston-Fork. Blue Licks and
Salt Works, Licking R., Barren Rocks,
Farm road, Millerburgh, Hugs-
458 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ton (Hinkston) Cr., Bourbon ou Paris, Southern Branch of
the Licking,
Huston Cr., Mills, Lexington,
("Road to Georgetown" leading away
Northwest.) -Hunter's hut, Old Fort
(some dist. N. of road on 'Elk.
Riv.' i. e. Elkhorn Creek.) Tavern,
Frankfort, Kentucky River." It will
be seen that this list includes many
names that are not only familiar but
are in actual use to this day. The
drawing of the road itself is ex-
ceedingly well done and is highly
interesting. The fact that this ad-
venturous foreigner thought it worth
while to make and publish a map
of the Old Limestone Road in his
ambitious collection speaks volumes for
the relative importance of the route
among the historic highways of that
early time. The place-names here given
are copied just as they appear
on the map.
A contemporary of the amiable Frenchman,
whose name has also
some connection with the Limestone Road
and with Lexington, its
Southern terminus, was
"Dominie" Samuel Wilson, who, in all probability,
owed his life and learning to the rugged
heath of Bonnie Scotland. The
identity of names must not lead anyone
to infer a relationship between
the worthy 'Dominie' and the author of
this paper. While we should be
most happy to claim such a relationship,
there is no reason to suppose
that it exists. In the Legislative Acts
of 1826-'27, at page 165, Chapter
142, is an Act, approved January 25,
1827, which bears the title-"An Act
for the benefit of Nicholas Seminary,
and to establish Wilson Seminary,
at the Lower Blue Licks." This act
recites-
"WHEREAS, Samuel Wilson, A. M., a
gentleman of learning
and extensive literary attainments,
whose whole life has been de-
voted to the instruction of youth, the
promotion of science, and the
cause of education, and the advancement
of useful knowledge among
the people, proposes to found a seminary
of learning at the Lower
Blue Licks, in Nicholas County,
therefore,
"Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That
a seminary of learning
be and the same is hereby established at
the Lower Blue Licks, in
said county, to be called and know by
the name of 'Wilson Sem-
inary'; and that Ariss Throckmorton,
Jonathan W. Tanner, Daniel
Ballingal, Sen., Thomas Throckmorton,
and Solomon Bedlinger, be
and they are hereby, appointed trustees
of said seminary, and are
hereby constituted a body politic and
corporate, and to be known
by the name and style of 'the Trustees
of Wilson Seminary'; and
by that name shall have perpetual
succession, and a common seal;"
etc., etc.
While designed, as the Act recites, to
have "perpetual succession",
Wilson Seminary, painful to relate, has
disappeared along with its book-
loving founder, the scholarly Scotsman,
and has left "not a wrack behind."
But as if to vindicate his learning and
his unselfish devotion to the cause
of culture, in the Boston Public Library
may be found a curious little
tome of 23 pages, bearing this quaint
title in more or less classical Latin
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 459
-"Chelys Hesperia, carmina quaedam
anniversaria, et alia, numeris La-
tinis Sapphicis modulata, continens, cum
notis aliquot adjectis", "by Sam-
uel Wilson, of Kentucky, Lexingtonia,
typis T. Smith, 1825." Rendering
this composite Anglo-Latin title into
"more or less classical" English, we
make out that this frail octavo, with
its twenty-three pages of Latin
verses, is described by the genial poet as
"The Western Harp, containing
certain poems, composed for anniversary
and other occasions, in Latin
Sapphie verse, together with some added
notes, by Samuel Wilson, of
Kentucky; printed at Lexington, by T.
Smith, 1825. The tuneful harp
is silent, the poet's voice is mute, but
in token of our respect for the
aspiring pioneer schoolmaster and his
noble work, we breathe this passing
word of tribute to his memory, and
wonder if it can be possible that the
Ohio Valley Historical Association or
any of its members can boast a
copy of this rare volume among their
treasures!
In the Journal of the Kentucky Senate
for the years 1841-42, there
is a table showing the weight carried by
four and six-horse teams from
Maysville to Lexington, the number of
days it took to perform the trip,
and the price per hundred pounds, from
March 19th to September 1830.
This table also shows that the
construction of the macadamized turn-
pike road occupied the years 1831. 1832,
1833 and 1834. In the years 1835
to 1836, from six to seven thousand
pounds was the usual load throughout
the year for a six-horse team, and four
thousand pounds for a four-
horse team.
In 1835, the year the turnpike was
finished, the time to make the
trip from Maysville to Lexington was
four days, and this time was
allowed the teamsters in their
settlements, but after the road was com-
pleted, three and a half days was the
usual allowance; the price for haul-
ing, from 1835 to the present time, has
generally been 62 1/2 cents per hun-
dred-weight for dry goods, and 50 cents
per hundred-weight for heavier
articles, such as salt, iron, nails,
groceries, etc. The time allowed to
make the trip to Lexington and back in
the winter and spring months,
previous to the construction of the
turnpike road, was from fourteen to
fifteen days, including the days
consumed in loading and unloading. In
the summer and fall it generally took
ten days to make the trip. After
the turnpike road was completed, nine to
ten days were considered a
sufficient allowance to make the trip
from Maysville to Lexington and back
the year 'round, including the time
required for loading and unloading.
Shortly after the reconstruction of the
road with macadam became
an accomplished fact, it was brought
once more into prominence through
a sharp controversy between the
corporate managers of the Road and
the local contractor for transporting
the mails between Maysville and
Lexington. The dispute involved a
federal question almost as far-reach-
ing in its consequences as that which
underlay the agitation over In-
ternal Improvements. The case is
reported in 7 Dana 113, under the
style of Dickey versus The
Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexington
460 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Turnpike Road Company, and the opinion,
delivered on June 22, 1838,
and covering some twenty-six pages of
closely printed matter, is one
of the ablest of the earlier opinions
handed down by Chief Justice Rob-
ertson for the Court of Appeals.
Speaking for the Court, Judge Robert-
son summed up the case and the final
conclusion of the Court in these
concise words:
"The only question presented for
consideration in this case is
whether Milus W. Dickey, as the
contractor for carrying the United
States Mail from Maysville to Lexington,
in this State, has the
right, in execution of his engagement,
to transport the mail in stage
coaches on the turnpike road between
those termini, without paying,
to the use of the Turnpike Company, the
rate of tollage exacted by
it, under the authority of its charter,
from other persons for the
transit of their horses and carriages.
"Can the carrier of the United
States mail have a right, either
legal or moral, to use the bridge of a
private person, or of an in-
corporated company, without paying
pontage, or the ferry of a
grantee of such franchise without paying
ferriage? That he would
have no such right is, in our judgment,
indisputable."
"We, therefore, conclude * * *
that, even if the Lexington
and Maysville turnpike should be deemed
a public State road in all
respects, and if Dickey, as mail
contractor, has a right to transport
the mail on any public road he may
prefer or choose to adopt be-
tween Lexington and Maysville, he cannot
do so, nor had Congress
power to authorize him to do so, without
paying for the use, if
demanded, a just compensation, and that is-prima
facie, at least,
-what other persons are required to pay
for a similar use of it.
"After refusing, as it did, by the
President's veto to contrib-
ute anything to the construction of the
Maysville and Lexington
turnpike, the general government could
not, with any semblance of
consistency, justice, or grace, claim
the right to use and impair it.
by carrying the mail upon it, in
coaches, without paying to those
who did make it with their own private
means, as much for the
use and dilapidation of it as they have
a legal right to exact and
do receive, without objection, from all
others who enjoy the use
of it, by traveling upon it in
carriages.
"Wherefore, as in every view we
have taken of this case, no
power of the general government has been
either exercised, or re-
sisted, or defied - it is clearly our
opinion that Dickey, as mail con-
tractor, can, as a matter of right, use
the Lexington and Maysville
turnpike road only as others have a
right to use it; and that, there-
fore, he may be, justly and
constitutionally, compelled to pay the
prescribed toll for such use as he shall
elect to make of it for his
own advantage and convenience."
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 461
One notable thing about this interesting
road, so far as it relates
to Kentucky, is the fact that it was
built entirely by State and private
aid, and had no aid whatever from the
national government. The same
thing is said to have been true of the
national road in Maryland, which,
though treated and used as an integral
part of the National or Cumber-
land Road, was built entirely by State
and local aid, and without any
contributions whatever from the general
government. Lines applied to
the latter road by one who lamented its
fading glories may be appro-
priately recalled here -
"We hear no more the clanging hoof,
And the stage coach, rattling by;
For the Steam King rules the traveled
world,
And the 'Old Pike' 's left to die!"
A few of the old tavern-keepers or
"Lords of the Road," whose
names have been preserved, are as
follows: William Bickley, Corbin
Gallegher, Amos Butter, George Harrington,
at Washington; George
Payne at Fairview; Landlord Holliday and
"Doggetts" at the Blue Licks;
"Governor" Herndon at
Mayslick; Talbott at Paris, and Rankin's, Throck-
morton's and Edward Martin's hospitable
houses of entertainment, which
helped to enliven the tedium of travel
and to mitigate the hardships of
the way. If we could have a full and
graphic description of these old
taverns in the early and middle years of
the last century, it would cer-
tainly give us a lively conception of
the social life of the road at that
period, and, as Dr. Pickett has
suggested, "If one, for example, might,
by great good luck, recover the details
of the interview between that
gentle Boniface, John Throckmorton, and
General Santa Anna, en route,
what a find it would be!"
About 1854-55, what was known as the
Bryan Station Turnpike
Road Company was incorporated, and
inasmuch as the Old Limestone
Road ran from Lexington directly by the
historic spot known as Bryan
Station, with its rugged hill-sides
resting on the low receding banks of
North Elkhorn Creek, and watered at the
base by the cool out-pourings
of the memorable Spring, and as the bed
of that old road was adopted
as the road along which the Bryan
Station Turnpike - Company was to
construct its macadamized road, as soon
as the old roadway had been
macadamized, the old name, still
redolent with historic suggestion and
endeared by many associations and many
cherished memories, finally dis-
appeared, and thenceforward down to the
present time, the Old Limestone
Road in Fayette County has been known as
the Bryan Station Turnpike.
But the name "Limestone,"
still clings, like a vanishing echo, to that
street by which the old road entered the
city of Lexington. The records
show that five continuous miles of the
Bryan Station Turnpike Road
were completed and a toll-gate
authorized to be erected in consequence
on February 6, 1860. Some years after
the war a subsidiary company
462 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
was incorporated for the purpose of
extending the Bryan Station Turn-
pike about two miles further from its
original terminus near Bryan Sta-
tion. This work in time was duly
completed.
A detailed account of the later history
of the Maysville Road will
have to be reserved for a future paper.
In its later years, before this
road, in common with nearly all the
other macadamized turnpike roads
in Kentucky, was made free and thrown
open to the public, Col. W. W.
Baldwin, of Maysville, was long the
Superintendent and owner of a con-
trolling interest in the road. He was
widely known in Kentucky and
elsewhere as the "Turnpike
King," and we understand that, at his request,
some one conversant with the facts
prepared, a number of years ago,
an interesting sketch of the road, with
special reference to its history
as a macadamized road, but a thorough
search has failed to reveal the
existence or whereabouts of this paper.
It may yet be found, as we
hope, in some fugitive issue of the
Maysville "Eagle." With the aid of
such a paper, it would have been
possible for us to furnish a much more
extended and, we doubt not, a far more
interesting, account of the road
than has been presented here.
About the year 1875, the owners of the
road became involved in
litigation, and for a time its
management and direction were in the hands
of a receiver. This litigation, as we
are informed, eventuated favorably
to the Company, and has left no blot on
the fair name and fame of the
old road.
Before closing this paper, just a word
about the steam railroads
which succeeded the macadamized turnpike
roads, just as the macada-
mized turnpike roads had followed the
old dirt roads, and these in turn
had followed the traces and trails of
the Indians and buffalo.
In 1830, Joseph Brunn, a public-spirited
business man of Lexington,
exhibited at Frankfort, a locomotive and
train of cars of his own in-
vention, and between 1830 and 1850,
while Kentucky was very active in
building turnpikes and improving its
rivers by locks and dams, the Lex-
ington and Frankfort Railroad was the
only railroad in the State, and,
for a long time, the only one west of
the Alleghany mountains. The line
from Louisville to Frankfort was
completed in 1851. Following this came
a period of railroad building, in the
course of which the Kentucky
Central Railroad was built from
Covington to Lexington, the Lexington
and Danville Railroad from Lexington to
Nicholasville, and the Louis-
ville and Nashville, and its Memphis
branch and the Lebanon branch
running out from Louisville as far as
Lebanon, Kentucky.
The railroad from Lexington to
Covington, as originally designed,
was intended to run from Lexington to
Maysville, via Paris. It was
built, however, only as far as Paris,
and then the construction work
stopped. The route was then diverted to
Covington. The work on this
road was completed before the Civil War,
and the extension of the road
to Maysville, in conformity to the
original design, was not completed
Annual Meeting Ohio alley Historical Association. 463
until along in the eighties. This was
made possible, just as the comple-
tion of the turnpike roads had been
rendered possible, by means of county
subscriptions, and for a long time the
railroad was operated in the in-
terest of the counties through which it
passed and which had contributed
to its construction.
A new chapter in the development of
transportation and inter-
course between the two towns which have
so long stood as terminal
stations of the "Old Maysville
Road," has been opened within our State,
as elsewhere, by the construction and
operation for several years past
of the electric car-line service between
Lexington and Paris. If the use
of air-ships and aeroplanes does not
outrun the growth of the trolley-car,
it is only a question of a short time
until Maysville and Lexington, ever
reaching out for each other's friendly
hand-clasp and ever cultivating
closer relations, shall be bound into a
more perfect and a happier union
by an electric railway system extending
on a virtual air-line from town
to town.
In conclusion, we may say of the
"Old Maysville Road" and its
predecessor, the "Old Limestone
Road," what Dr. Archer Butler Hulbert,
in one of his interesting volumes on
"Historic Highways of America,"
has said of Zane's Trace:
"The little road here under
consideration is unique among
American highways in its origin and in
its history. It was demanded
not by war, but by civilization; not by
exploration and settlement,
but by settlements that were already
made and in need of com-
munion and commerce. * * * And finally
it was on the subject
of the Maysville Turnpike that the
question of internal improvement
by the national government was at last
decided when, in 1830.
President Jackson signed that veto which
made the name of Mays-
ville a household word throughout the
United States."
CONSTITUTION OF THE OHIO VALLEY
HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATION.
1. The name of this organization shall
be THE OHIO VALLEY HIS-
TORICAL ASSOCIATION.
2. Its object shall be to promote the
general historical interests of
the Ohio Valley and especially to
encourage the study and teaching of
its local history.
3. Membership in the Association shall
consist of the following
classes: (1) Individual members; (2)
Organizations interested in its
objects, such organizations shall be
represented by not less than two nor
more than seven of their members, but
other members of said organiza-
tion are eligible to become individual
members of the Association; (3)