State

THE STATE A Weekly Survey of North Carolina EotfrH м mitlrr. Jum 1. IMS .1 tb« PortoA** *1 R*MCb. Norib Carol)!*, OB«l-r iho Art of March Я, 1*7», Vol. VIII. No. 24 November 9, 1940 Transportation Roads like the above were typical in North Carolina less than 30 years ago. Today wc have approximately 11,000 miles of paved highways. Carolina were hnm|*ored by the numerous creeks, rivers and swamps. Yet many roads were made in the lSth century in both the Coastal Plain and iho Piedmont. From iln* north to south a highway ran through Kdenton, Hath, New Pern. Wilmington, and Brunswick. Л later road ran north and south from Halifax to Tarboro, and another went to Cross Crock, which is now Fayette¬ ville. The constant stream of families moving from Pennsylvania and Mary¬ land to North Carolina followed the “upper road” through the mountains, or the ‘lower road*’ across the Coastal Plain. They traveled in large parties, camping out at night and buying food from farmers along the way. Some of i he men of the party, on horseback or on foot, preceded the wagons to clear the way; others followed as a rear guard. A party of Moravians, moving in 1"53 from Bethlehem, Pa., to take up tlieir lands in Piedmont North Caro¬ lina, followed the difficult upper road along tin- Blue Ridge. In their diary the Moravians recorded that “the road sloped so that we could hardly keep the wagon from slipping over the edge of the mountain, and we had to use the tackle frequently.” At the end of the IStli century, horseback was still the beet means of travel. A man with a good horse could It has boon a long slop from tho Indian I roils. Iho old plank roads and llio wood-burning railroad looomolivos lo niodorn niolliods of rail, bus. truck and airplane traffic. TIIF. Pennsylvania Central Air¬ line last week inaugurated a new schedule of service across North Carolina from Norfolk. Ya.. to Knox¬ ville, Tenn., thereby establishing an¬ other mile-post in transportation fa¬ cilities for the people of this section. In this connection, it is interest¬ ing to note tho chnngee that have taken place in modes of traffic. It is now possible to leavo Norfolk at 7 :20 in the morning, fly out to Knoxville, spend an hour in that city and be back in Norfolk by 4 :4G in the after¬ noon. When the first settlers came to North Carolina, it would have taken them six months to make the same trip. As a matter of fact, it is doubt¬ ful whether they ever would have lieen able to do it at all. Because in those days, travelers had to make use almost entirely of Indian trails that penetrated the dense forests in manydireetions. These trails, twelve to eighteen inches wide, which led by the most direct route from stream to stream, were the first trading paths of the colonists and were the basis for many of their roads. Whenever possi¬ ble. the Indians traveled hv water; the white settlers wisely followed their ex¬ ample, learning from them how to build canoes from the materials at hand. Efforts at road building in eastern Planes of this type are being used in regular scheduled air service over North Carolina.