"Who maintained the roads in 1775?" Topic
8 Posts
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John the OFM | 22 Sep 2020 7:29 a.m. PST |
The British marched out from Boston to Concord via Lexington that April Morning in 1775. I presume it was along good roads. Who cleared those roads in the first place, and who maintained them? In Fischer's excellent "Paul Revere's Ride", the maps show an excellent road network covering all of eastern Massachusetts. And then of course there was good communication along roads between the various colonies. So, I refer back to my title. |
Rakkasan | 22 Sep 2020 7:38 a.m. PST |
John, it would appear that the roads were maintained by the counties and private enterprises/individuals. At least that is what is mentioned in these two links for Maryland and Virginia: PDF link PDF link Toll roads came into being following the AWI: link |
WillBGoode | 22 Sep 2020 7:50 a.m. PST |
In that area of New England where the fighting took place on April 19th it was the homeowner who maintained the area around his home. Hence a lot of stone walls along the road to prevent wagons etc from coming into your property and making it part of the road. If the home owner could not do the work it would be brought up in town meeting and a solution arrived at. |
WillBGoode | 22 Sep 2020 7:53 a.m. PST |
BTW the maps of the "Battle Road" in the book came from this report. link |
Pan Marek | 22 Sep 2020 9:13 a.m. PST |
A good question, and good answers! |
DyeHard | 22 Sep 2020 9:32 a.m. PST |
My reading concurs with the above. Roads first commissioned and cleared under a County or a private/cooperate authority. But maintenance was mostly by the private parties along the roadway. So road conditions could change quite wildly. |
doc mcb | 22 Sep 2020 9:38 a.m. PST |
Gotta pile up those rocks to clear the fields for plowing! |
mildbill | 22 Sep 2020 1:48 p.m. PST |
corvee was not unknown for those who lacked the cash to pay county taxes. |
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