From trail way to highway, the Historic National Road through Indiana has seen tremendous change and growth over the centuries. Spanning the breadth of the state, the Historic National Road follows U.S. Highway 40 right through the heart of Indiana and its capital, Indianapolis, the byway's largest city. Travel the Historic National Road today to experience Indiana, past and present.
Imagine yourself traveling the Historic National Road in the mid-1800s, maybe in a stagecoach or along a Conestoga wagon, as you see original sections of the Historic National Road east of Indianapolis in Knightstown, or west of Indianapolis near Putnamville. On the eastern end of the byway at the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond, see pioneer-life exhibits including a general store, an operational 1880s blacksmith shop, and one of the first log homes built in Richmond. A few miles further west in Cambridge City, stop at the Huddleston Farmhouse Inn Museum, where many early travelers stopped for provisions, shelter and rest for both themselves and their animals. Take a tour of the farmhouse and see original furnishings and utensils. The National Road was the impetus for settlements all along the corridor, complete with taverns, inns, and blacksmith shops to service the traveling populace. *Traveler’s note—the Huddleston Farmhouse Inn Museum is temporarily closed for reworking until approximately Sept. 2011.
The National Road experienced a rise in use with the invention of the automobile. In the summer, take a break one evening to sit back and watch a movie from the comfort of your car at one of the historic drive-in theaters located just a few miles off the byway in Winchester, New Castle, Indianapolis, Franklin, Martinsville, Spencer, and other locations. Once numbered in the thousands, only a few hundred of these nostalgic theaters remain across the country. Fuel up at the Filling Station and Coffee Cottage in Terre Haute. The stone filling station from the 1930s hearkens to a time when someone with a friendly face pumped your gas and washed your windshield.
The experience of traveling the Historic National Road today evokes the experience of past travelers from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. The agricultural landscape that dominates the stretches of road between settlements reflects early patterns of land husbandry. As visitors travel the route through agricultural and natural landscapes, then through well-defined towns, and back again into the open landscape, a tangible rhythm evolves. This repeating pattern of rural and agrarian to urban settlement is broken only by modern, metropolitan Indianapolis. While there, visit the famous Children's Museum, the largest of its kind. Its interactive displays captivate young and old alike. Get your hands dirty at an archaeological dig, pace the platform of a Victorian railway depot, or ride a turn-of-the-century carousel.
The Historic National Road in Indiana is part of America's first interstate highway and one of the nation's first automobile routes west. An authentic remnant of the past, it's an important link to America's heritage and culture. From remnants of the Road itself, to drive-ins, theaters and diners and to the remaining farms and modern museums along the way, visitors can follow Americans' westward migration on Indiana's Historic National Road.
Shopping for Antiques on Indiana's Historic National Road