John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 233
We take transportation for granted today. Someone to whom I was talking
recently recounted how they had driven 1700 miles in order to have
Thanksgiving Day with their family. We forget how difficult it was to travel
in days of yore, when a trip today to the opposite coast is only a few hours
of flying or a few days of driving for us. Contrast this with the weeks or
even months our ancestors spent in crossing the Atlantic, or the few months
spent on the Westward trail.
Some trips in the eighteenth century were not finished in the year in which
they were started. A family might start out from Pennsylvania and stop in
Virginia for the winter and perhaps another year to grow crops.
Where there was the easier transportation, the first development occurred.
In Virginia, the first settlements were along the rivers, the Potomac, the
Rappahannock, the James, and the York Rivers. Civilization in the first
century proceeded inland as far as ships could sail. In other colonies, the
Delaware and the Hudson Rivers attracted civilizations along their shores.
When river access reached its limits, limited roads were built. But usually,
settlement came first and then the roads came. When the First Germanna
Colony settled at Germantown, they reached the site by walking, probably
following trails used by the Indians. Then they built roads. The Second
Germanna Colony was entrenched in the Robinson River Valley before roads
reached the area. As to how difficult it was to travel in the early
eighteenth century, one has only to read John Fontaine's description of the
expedition, in 1716, over the Blue Ridge Mountains.
What determined where roads were built? Several factors influenced the
choice. Most roads originated with a petition by the settlers to the county
courts for roads. They wanted roads that reached their homes and then
reached commercial outlets for the goods they were selling and buying. Many
times, a mill was one terminus, or a point along the road. So usually the
pattern of settlement and commercial activity was the primary influence. As
to the course that a road took, it was influenced by geographical factors
such as hills and waterways.
In physically laying out a road, which often involved clearing trees and
leveling ground, an existing trail was often the basis. Very commonly, these
had been laid out and used by the Indians, perhaps for centuries. Many of
our early roads were an elaboration of the early Indian trails.
To give an example from Pennsylvania, the Hans Herr party landed at
Philadelphia in 1710 and paused there only long enough to ask where there
was land for sale. To the west they were told. They went as far as they
could using the available roads. As civilization thinned out, the roads
became poorer until they were essentially non-existent. Then they followed
Indian trails until they were past the bounds of civilization. Their
settlement and the like settlement of others were the impetus for building
roads.