This mile marker was part of The National Road. The National Road or Cumberland Road was one of the first major improved highways in the United States, built by the federal government. Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland, Maryland, on the Potomac River, and the road reached Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on the Ohio River in 1818. Plans were made to continue through St. Louis, Missouri, on the Mississippi River to Jefferson City, Missouri, but funding ran out and construction stopped at Vandalia, Illinois in 1839.
A chain of turnpikes connecting Baltimore, Maryland, to theNational Road at Cumberland was completed in 1824, forming what is referred to as an eastern extension of the National Road. In 1835 the road east of Wheeling was turned over to the states for operation as a turnpike. It came to be known as the National Pike, a name also applied to the Baltimore extension.
The approximately 620-mile (1000 km) road provided a connection between the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and a gateway to the West for thousands of settlers. It was the first road in the U.S. to use the new macadam road surfacing. Today the alignment is mostly followed by U.S.Highway 40. The full road, including extensions east to Baltimore and west to St. Louis, was designated "The Historic National Road", an All-American Road, by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta in 2002.
Please do not exchange signature items (Wooden Nickels, Business Cards) for swag. If you want to leave your signature item and take other signature item for your collection, feel free. I do not consider signature items as a swag item. So please do not take swag if you do not have swag to offer. Also please never leave liquids (bubbles) in any cache as they freeze, bust and ruin the cache.