Historic National Road - Maryland
Driving Directions

Driving the Byway

Baltimore

• You will start your tour at the Inner Harbor, the beginning or end of many journeys along the Historic National Pike.
• Follow Lombard Street (return on Pratt Street) past the old Bromo Seltzer Tower and the University of Maryland Hospital complex.
• Cross Martin Luther King Boulevard, and continue through several well-preserved historic neighborhoods. One of these, settled by European immigrants, grew up around Hollins Market. More recent residents have made this an artistic community, which contributed to the existence of the neighborhood's many coffeehouses, small restaurants, and cafes.
• A little farther west is Union Square, one of several such squares developed in the 19th Century. In the next century, the square attained fame when renowned newspaperman H. L. Mencken made his home at 1524 Hollins Street.
• South of Lombard and Pratt streets is the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum at Mt. Clare Station, the oldest passenger railroad station in the country and the birthplace of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The museum's collection includes more than 120 railroad cars and engines used from 1830 to the 1960s.
• You will continue on Lombard Street to Frederick Avenue, which is a two-way street that is the only direct link to the original turnpike. Still in use today are many hotels, taverns, and warehouses that once served travelers and transport on the Historic National Pike.
• The road crosses Gwynns Falls where the Gwynns Falls Greenway, a 14 mile hiking and biking trail, is under construction from nearby Leakin Park to the Inner Harbor.
• The pike enters the Victorian village of Irvington, which is bordered by several notable cemeteries, including Mount Olivet, where rests Francis Asbury, the "Father of American Methodism" and Loudoun Park, the burial place of H.L. Mencken and other well-known Baltimoreans.
• You will also pass St. Joseph's Monastery and a National Cemetery containing the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers.
• Frederick Avenue becomes MD 144, or Frederick Road, as it crosses the city line into Baltimore County.
• Continue west through Catonsville, which is a National Historic District. This 19th-century community was developed in 1810 by Richard Caton, a joint owner of the nearby Baltimore Iron Works Company. Supported by traffic on the Frederick Turnpike, Catonsville later became a prime location for summer homes when electric trolley lines connected this popular suburb with downtown Baltimore. Near Rolling Road is the mid-19th-century Candlelight Inn, where 12 small cottages behind the house accommodated people traveling the old pike.

Ellicott City to Cookville

• Follow Frederick Road down to the Patapsco River, the boundary line between Baltimore and Howard Counties. Here, on the eastern side of the river is Oella in Baltimore County and on the western side is Ellicott City in Howard County. Although the two villages grew up at about the same time and each has a long history of milling, they are very different today.
• Cross the river into Ellicott City, the Howard County seat, which lies along the narrow gorge cut by Tiber Branch near its junction with the Patapsco.
• A Main Street landmark is the former Old Colonial Inn and Opera House, reported to be the site of John Wilkes Booth's stage debut. Farther along is Thomas Isaac's log cabin. Built in 1780, it is an example of a way station along the old road. Here, you will find parking and, in the nearby stone building occupied by the Howard County Tourism Council, information and maps to take a walking tour of the town. Other sites include the Howard County Courthouse high atop Capitaline Hill and the First Presbyterian Church, (circa 1844), which is home of the Howard County Historical Society.
• Continuing on MD 144 and across US 29, look for St. John's Episcopal Church, established as a Queen Caroline Parish chapel in 1728. This church building dates to 1822.
• About four miles west of Ellicott City, turn left on US 40 and follow it a 1/4 mile, then turn left again on MD 144 to get back onto the original pike. Increased automobile and truck traffic led to the creation of US 40, which had bypassed Catonsville, Ellicott City, and many other National Pike towns in Maryland by 1926. Constructed in the 1950s, I-70 has cut an even newer path west. It runs north of the old pike, MD 144.
• Less than a mile west of US 40 at the corner of Folly Quarter Road is Doughoregan Manor (private), the home of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was also one of the richest men in the colonies. The 13,361-acre manor was passed down to him from his grandfather Charles Carroll the Settler, who acquired it in 1702.
• Proceed west on MD 144 to Marriottsville Road. North of here, just beyond the I-70 overpass is the Waverly Historic Site, owned by Revolutionary War hero John Eager Howard and later, his son George Howard, Maryland's governor from 1831 to 1833.
• Continue west on MD 144 to Cookville, where Confederate cavalry commanded by General J. E. B. Stuart routed Maryland militia on June 29, 1863, and continue north.

Cookville to Middletown

• MD 144 takes you through Lisbon and on to a right turn on MD 27, or Ridge Road.
• Go under the I-70 bridge into Mount Airy, which developed as a business center along a ridge and the paths of the B&O Railroad and the turnpike. The railroad, which followed the turnpike from Baltimore, turns south here -- on Parr's Ridge -- and gradually descends to the Potomac River at Point of Rocks.
• Turn left on Main Street and then, left again on Ridgeville Boulevard.
• Leaving Mount Airy, follow Ridgeville Boulevard, MD 144, which is known here as the Old National Pike.
• Crossing MD 75, you enter New Market. This 19th Century turnpike stopover, now on the National Register of Historic Places, is a mecca for antique hunters with more then 35 antique shops and plenty of places for a meal or an overnight stay.
• Continue west, going under the I-70 bridge and turning right to stay on MD 144. Crossing to the west bank of the Monocacy River, you can't miss the Jug Bridge Monument. This 10-ton stone jug, for which the 1809 stone bridge over the Monocacy was named, was relocated when the old bridge was replaced. One of the bridge's builders is said to have sealed a demijohn of whiskey inside the jug when it was installed at the span's eastern end. Also on the west bank of the river -- at the original pike crossing -- are the toll house and toll collector's residence for the old National Pike.
• The pike, MD 144, enters Frederick City via East Patrick Street. When the National Pike connected Baltimore and Frederick, the town flourished as a commercial center. Its Historic District includes numerous homes and public buildings representing two centuries of architecture. Stop in at the visitor center at 19 East Church Street for a guided walking tour. Maryland's legislature met here in Kemp Hall at the outset of the Civil War, and Winchester Hall, originally a female seminary, was a wartime hospital.
• At 24 East Church Street is the Frederick County Historical Society, which is an excellent resource for local history.
• A short drive out Market Street will take you to Rose Hill Manor, (circa 1790), an elegant Georgian mansion that was formerly the home of Thomas Johnson, Maryland's first elected governor. The mansion, which houses a children's museum and historical exhibits, is at the heart of a 43-acre historical park featuring early American gardens, an orchard, and outbuildings.
• Back in Frederick, continue west on Patrick Street, which becomes US 40 when you pass the US 15 interchange. Continue for a mile, and bear left on the older and more scenic US 40 Alternate, or Old National Pike.
• Braddock Heights stands at the summit of Catoctin Mountain on US 40 Alternate. The town is named for British General Edward Braddock who oversaw the construction of this western mountain road during the French and Indian War. George Washington was a young officer serving with Braddock and the British forces. The mountaintop town was created as a resort at the turn-of-the-20th-century when a new trolley line linked it with Frederick and Hagerstown to the west. Only the large two- and three-story Victorian cottages remain from the complex that included hotels, an observatory, and a large amusement park.
• As you descend the mountain, the town you see below is Middletown. Although surrounded by modern suburbs, the town's historic district is a vivid reminder of an 18th Century farming village. The Middletown Valley was a north-south route that brought German immigrants to this area. This German heritage is evident in Middletown's two Lutheran Churches, Christ Reformed Church, built in 1818, and Zion Lutheran Church, built in 1859.

Middletown to Hagerstown

• Beyond Middletown, US 40 Alternate ascends South Mountain, a formidable obstacle to early settlers. Finally in 1775, General Braddock's forces constructed a road through Turner's Gap, a route that was later incorporated in the National Pike. This is a good place to get out and hike the Appalachian Trail through South Mountain Park.
• Visit Washington Monument State Park by turning right opposite the South Mountain Inn. On July 4, 1827, the residents of nearby Boonsboro gathered on the mountain to build a 20-foot tower in memory of George Washington. A short climb to the top of this first monument to the nation's first president offers a breathtaking view of the valley below.
• Continue west on US 40 Alternate, descending South Mountain into Boonsboro, a town of solid brick and stone houses founded in 1792. The town prospered in the 1830s when the National Pike was alive with westbound traffic that kept its blacksmith shops and 82 stores busy and its inns and taverns filled with travelers and teamsters. On Main Street, visit the Boonsborough Museum of History, which houses historical items of local and national significance with an emphasis on Civil War relics.
• Driving through farmland on your way to Funkstown, notice the unique Pennsylvania-German Bank Barns with their limestone-faced gable ends. Here, too, you'll also see smaller English-style barns.
• Follow Alternate US 40 through Funkstown where Main Street (Baltimore Street), is flanked by handsome, well-kept brick and stone houses.
• To stay on the National Pike, turn right on Westside Avenue. Notice the limestone Three-Arch Bridge on the left as you cross Antietam Creek. The bridge, built in 1823 for the National Pike, withstood several efforts to destroy it during the Civil War.
• Follow Alternate US 40 into Hagerstown, where the road becomes Frederick Street. At East Baltimore Street turn left and then right onto Locust Street, which will take you to the center of town. Turn left on westbound Franklin Street. (To see more of the historic district turn left on Prospect Street followed by another left on eastbound Washington Street, (MD 144)).

Hagerstown to Hancock

• Hagerstown has prospered as a crossroads on the historic north-south migration and trade route through the Great Valley that stretches from the Cumberland Valley to the north and the Shenandoah Valley to the south. It is a town of historic charm found in a number of its vintage buildings. The Federalstyle Miller House, built on West Washington Street in 1818, is the headquarters of the Washington County Historical Society and features a collection of dolls, clocks, pottery, furniture, and general store items.
• Continue west on US 40 through a region of large mid-19th-century farms and homesteads, as well as Newcomer's Tavern (private), a busy establishment in the pike's heyday.
• As you continue west, bear right to the Wilson Bridge where the older pike crossed Conococheague Creek. A small waterfront park offers a fine view of the bridge, which is an excellent example of the quality of the engineering and craftsmanship that went into building the National Pike. Wilson Bridge is the county's oldest and longest stone arch bridge, dating from 1819, and served as a model for more than a score of similar bridges.
• Cross the creek, and turn left on Cedar Creek Road to visit the hamlet of Wilson where a general store, church, school, barn, and post office are typical of such mid-19th Century crossroads communities.
• Follow US 40 west to Clear Spring, a trading village named for a spring so large that at one time it turned a mill wheel. Federal-style brick buildings line both sides of the pike for about ½ a mile.
• US 40 next takes you along the Fairview Mountain ridge where a few remaining sandstone tourist cottages have survived from the early days of the automobile era.
• Continue west to Indian Springs. West of Indian Springs, US 40 merges with I-70 as it crosses the state's narrow panhandle. As you follow I-70 west toward Hancock, look for traces of the old pike winding up and down the northern bank.
• After about 11 miles, exit on MD 144 in Hancock, where the state is only 1½ miles wide. Originally a trading post on the Nemecolon Indian Trail, Hancock became a boom town when the National Pike reached it in 1818. In addition to being a trading center for this fruit-growing region, the town was a stopover point for turnpike travelers and later for the C&O Canal and the Western Maryland Railroad.
• MD 144 becomes Main Street as it passes through town. The C&O Canal National Historic Park Visitor Center, which features exhibits on canal life, is located on Main Street.
• To reach the C&O Canal Tonoloway Area, turn left on Church Street followed by a right turn on Canal Road. You can take a short hike along the Western Maryland Rail Trail or the C&O Canal Towpath, which parallel each other in this narrow section of Maryland. These hiking and biking paths are part of a 315-mile corridor between Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Hancock to Cumberland

• Continue west on MD 144 through several miles of orchard country where you can see remnants of an old toll house on the road's north side opposite Locker Road. Farther west is Old Mr. Flints House, where George Washington stayed overnight in 1769.
• West of Hancock, MD 144 becomes Scenic 40 in an encounter with I-68, or the National Freeway.
• Scenic 40 leaves the freeway and follows a portion of the old wagon road four miles up the side of Sideling Hill. This is the longest climb during your journey from Baltimore to Cumberland. Years ago, before the interstate, many wagoners lost their loads and teams, and later, truckers had a struggle on this difficult and treacherous stretch of road. The Overlook at one time offered a spectacular view to the west.
• As you descend the western flank of Sideling Hill, turn left on McFarland Road, which changes back to Scenic 40 as you enter Allegany County.
• Scenic 40 closely parallels I-68 and then crosses the freeway to the north side, picking up the original course of the pike over Town Hill Mountain. The restored Town Hill Hotel has been serving travelers along the Historic National Pike for more then a century. Inside and out, it recreates a 1920s-era resort atmosphere.
• Cross Green Ridge Mountain, and turn right on MD 144 near Exit 62 to stay on the old pike. Part of the Allegheny Mountain chain, Green Ridge State Forest covers 40,000-acres of mountainous terrain known for its network of unpaved roads and scenic overlooks.
• Continue west along Scenic 40 keeping a watchful eye for older, more winding paths of the National Pike that have been bypassed by a more direct route thanks to improved earth moving technology. The road crosses Polish Mountain and Town Creek and then enters Flintstone, a valley town surrounded by Polish, Martin, and Warrior Mountains. In this relatively unspoiled setting are several well-preserved 18th-century farms that survive as an example of the pioneering spirit that settled the western part of Maryland.
• The Flintstone Hotel still stands much as it was when it was built around 1807 as a 22-room inn on the National Pike. Farther along is Rocky Gap State Park, which covers almost 3,000-acres and includes a 243-acre manmade lake, a new multi-million dollar convention center, and a golf course.
• Before entering Cumberland, the National Pike crisscrosses I-68 several times and finally merges with it near Wolfe Mill.
• As you continue west on I-68, consider turning off at Exit 46 on Ali Ghan Road to visit the Inn at Folck's Mill, built in 1790 as a tavern on the National Pike.
• Return to I-68 west where you will turn off again at Exit 44.
• At the end of the ramp, turn right on MD 639, or Willow Brook Road, which becomes Baltimore Avenue, and follow it down the ridge to enter Cumberland.

Cumberland and Lavale

• Currently the Byway is not routed through Downtown Cumberland due to the complexity of the one-way system of streets in Cumberland.
• To get to Cumberland from the currently signed Byway route, follow Baltimore Avenue into downtown Cumberland.
• At the bottom, turn left on Henderson Street, then right on Harrison. This will take you to the Western Maryland Station Center, home of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, C&O Canal National Park Visitor Center, and the Allegany County Visitor's Information Center. Here you will find ample parking and information about Cumberland.
• Cumberland lies in a valley at the junction of Will's Creek and the North Fork of the Potomac River. Mountains tower more than 1,000-feet around the city. As wagon roads improved, Cumberland became a gateway to the Ohio River Valley and in 1811, work began on the Historic National Road from Cumberland west. The road had reached Wheeling, West Virginia, by 1818 and Vandalia, Illinois, by 1837.
• The Historic National Road starts at Baltimore Street and heads west on Center Street, which becomes Alternate US 40 as it crosses the Cumberland city limits. Here Will's Creek flows beside the highway in a concrete floodway.
• The creek, road, and two railway roadbeds pass through the Narrows and the craggy bluffs of Will's and Haystack Mountains. Before the Narrows was discovered as an opening to the west, the vanguard of Braddock's army had cut and hauled its ways directly over the mountain. Greene Street actually follows Braddock's road from the fort site and curves to the west over Haystack Mountain.
• To stay on Alternate US 40, turn left at MD 36, and follow the road into Lavale. Cumberland's first streetcar suburb grew out of the farm furrows when a developer bought a ½ mile strip along the road in 1909.
• The Lavale Toll House, the National Road's sole remaining tollhouse in Maryland, flanks a mile marker on the western fringe of town. An aged sign still displays the tolls collected from travelers in the early 1800s.

Lavale to Grantsville

• Continue west along the old road into tiny Clarysville. Recently destroyed by fire, the Clarysville Inn was built in 1807 and served as a wagon-stand and stage house to early travelers and teams. During the Civil War it was the headquarters of a federal hospital camp. Just west of the former inn site is a preserved stone arch bridge that once carried the Historic National Road.
• Continue west past the Eckhart Mines, which grew as the center of the region's early coal mining industry because of their position on the National Road.
• Frostburg, a coal mining center and main stop on the National Road, is the home of Frostburg State University. The town grew up around Catherine and Meshach Frost's tavern situated along the National Road. St. Michaels Catholic Church was built on the site of Frost's property when a large population of Irish and Welsh immigrants settled here to work the mines in the mid-1800s. As you enter town, you will pass a neighborhood of Victorian and Greek Revival homes once occupied by mine officials.
• Turn right on Depot Street to visit the newly restored 1891 Depot Center, which is the western end of the Scenic Western Maryland Railroad operating out of Cumberland since 1989. Near the depot are a tunnel, turntable, and hotel. Here also is the restored warehouse that serves as the Thrasher Carriage House, one of the nation's finest repositories for historic stagecoaches, hearses, sleighs, and carriages.
• Leaving Frostburg, notice the gateposts on each side of the pike that marked the second toll house 13 miles from Cumberland. Farther west, at the summit of Big Savage Mountain, you will enter Garrett County. Little Savage Mountain rises just beyond Big Savage Mountain.
• Just east of MD 546 is the site of the Savage River Camp where General Braddock stopped after descending Savage Mountain. To the south, via the Lower New Germany Road, is the Savage River State Forest, with over 52,000-acres of mountain woodlands and swift, clear trout streams.
• Alternate US 40 descends to Little Meadows, where Braddock's expedition camped in 1755. Nearby is the Stone House Inn, also called Tomlinson's Inn, built around 1818 near the site of the 18th Century Red House Tavern.
• On the east bank of the Casselman River, Penn Alps, a nonprofit center for the study of mountain crafts and traditions, maintains a showroom, restaurant, and some guest-rooms. The neighboring artisans village is a unique complex of historical buildings, artisan booths, and craft shops. Nearby is Stanton Mill (private), built in 1856 on the foundations of a 1797 gristmill.
• A National Historic Landmark, the Casselman River Bridge, in the Casselman River Bridge State Park, was built in 1813 for the National Road. It was the longest single-span stone bridge in America and was used continuously from 1813 to 1933. The river, which flows through scenic Amish farm country, is popular with trout fishermen.
• Follow Alternate US 40 west to Grantsville, which was settled primarily by German-speaking Amish and Mennonites drawn from Pennsylvania to the area's excellent farmland. The Casselman Hotel still offers food and shelter to travelers. Built in 1824 as the Drover's Inn, it is one of the last true Federal-style buildings in Garrett County.

Grantsville to Keysers Ridge

• If you head north on MD 669, or Spring Road, you will find an old fashioned Mennonite country market.
• Farther west on the Historic National Road, the Fuller-Baker House (private) is a well-preserved cabin from the heyday of the Historic National Road.
• Continue on Alternate US 40 over Negro Mountain. At an elevation of 3,075-feet, this is the highest point on the Historic National Road. The mountain was named to honor Nemesis, an African-American who was part of an expedition headed by Captain Michael Cresap. Nemesis was killed when Cresap's rangers surprised a band of marauding Indians.
• At the bottom of the hill, one of the road's original stone bridges crosses Puzzley Run. Look closely, and you will see some of the alignment problems faced by the builders of the road and bridge.
• Half a mile west, at low places in the field to the right, you will see traces of the original Braddock Road. Follow the Historic National Road over Keysers Ridge and on to the end of this scenic Byway at the Maryland line. Here, you might consider taking a few days to follow the Historic National Road through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, to the end in Vandalia, Illinois.

Other Road Names

This list of road names make up or are part of the byway and may prove helpful for finding and navigating the byway

• Eastern Legacy of the Historic National Road