While traveling to the beaches of North Carolina last week, we took a route from Uniontown through Maryland on the way to West Virginia, and so on. Google maps and the iPhone and the Garmin navigation unit all had different opinions on the quickest route (well, the navi wanted us to go to the beltway in DC – not likely). So, as we plotted an alternate route along the national road (Route 40), we were advised by the navigation unit to veer right down a rather steep but short hill. And there we ended up looking at some unexpected history – and the history of commerce.
The Potomac River is but a stream in this part of Maryland. Following along the same path as the nearly 200 year old C and O canal.
But the history goes ever further back. This was a very early waypoint to the “frontier” of what would become southwest Pennsylvania. George Washington passed through the area many times, starting years before his expeditions further north in what would later become the start of the French-Indian War.
After passing through this place that Washington forded so many years ago, we went on to pay the only tolls of the entire trip.
Built in 1937, a privately owned, toll bridge. It has even been in the news, lately.
It is single lane.
It is safe.
Rated for something like 16,000 lbs.
Wooden boards.
Low – and prone to flooding.
You must wait your turn.
No guard rail.
To pay to go across is 50 cents.
Adjacent to a national park service site, and featured on hiking trails.
Sometimes you plan on adventures. Sometimes they appear when you least expect them.
Sometimes, they cost 50 cents.
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