TIP #299: ROAD DEVELOPMENTS IN KENTUCKY For this tip, I have found information from "The History of Kentucky" by the late Lewis Collins, Volume 1. Have you ever noticed in the old deeds, county order books or road books that roads were always described as ending at the courthouse? This came from a 1748 Virginia law which required "all roads to or from the courthouse of each county, and all public mills and ferries, to be kept well cleared from woods, bushes, and other obstructions, and all roots to be well grubbed up for 30 feet wide." A later Virginia law of 1785 was still in force when Kentucky became a state in 1792 and this was used by the State of Kentucky in 1787. This provided for the opening of new roads and the alteration of former roads under surveyors appointed by the courts. All male laboring persons, 16 years old or older, were required to work the words, except those who were masters of two or more male slaves over that age, or they were fined $1.25 for each day's absence or neglect. Since there were few if no bridges, mill-dams were require to be built at least 12 feet for the passage of public roads, with bridges over the pier-head and flood-gates. Surveyors used wagons to haul timber, stone or earth for road building; and thus began the county levy. The first Kentucky road act was dated 14 Dec 1793 and Bennett Pemberton, Nathaniel Sandaers and Daniel Weisiger were appointed commissioners. They were to receive subscriptions in money, labor or property, enough to lay a road from Frankfort, Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio. On 12 December 1794, commissioners raised a fund for clearing a road from the Madison County courthouse (at that time in Milford) to Hazelpatch on the road leading from the Crab Orchard to Powell's Valley. This road didn't open until December 1795 when another "wagon road" was to commence near Crab Orchard and to end at the top of the Cumberland mountain "through which the present road to Virginia passes." This road opened in the summer of 1796. Turnpike roads in Kentucky (those that had toll gates) were established by law - they also had to be kept in good repair, paid for by the tolls from travelers using the road. The road? It was merely where the surveyors had been formed by throwing the earth from the sides to the center in a rounded form. No road of this style was created after 1829. Joseph Crockett was appointed to erect a turnpike on the road leading from Crab Orchard to Cumberland Gap where the road from the Madison County courthouse intersected. The turnpike was to be "farmed out" to the highest bidder who had to give bond and security. Everyone was to pay a toll except post riders, expresses, women and children under the age of 10. The charge was 12 ½ cents. Each horse, male or mule paid 3 pence; two-wheel carriages 3 shillings, four-wheel carriages $1.00 and every head of "neat" cattle going east 4 ½ cents. Leftover monies were to be retained by the road keeper. Robert Craig was the first toll-keeper of this road. By December 1801, the law read that all roads had to be 30 feet wide with the option of the county to expand this to 40 feet wide. In 1802, a road was opened from Mount Sterling or Paris to Big Sandy River "in a good direction to communicate with the Greenbrier road in Virginia which strikes the Kanawha river at Wm. Morris'". $1,000 was appropriated by the legislature21 December 1821 to improve the state road from Lexington to Nashville, TN "where the road "crosses the Rolling Fork of Salt river and over to the summit of Muldrow's Hill." Tools for the road surveyor's use was first authorized by the State December 1822 which directed the county courts of Boone, Campbell, Mason and Garrard to levy sufficient funds for this. McAdamized roads was given in the winter of 1826-7 by Gov. Jos. Desha, in his message to the legislature. It was thought that this was the only permanent type of road that would hold up in Kentucky soil. It was decided to use this technique in the road from Maysville to Louisville passing through the important towns of Paris, Lexington and Frankfort. The 2nd turnpike was erected in July of 1810 on the road from the mouth of Triplett's creek, on the Licking River to the mouth of Big Sandy. The first Lottery to be used for roads was enacted January 1811; monies to improve the Limestone road from Maysville to the south end of Washington in Mason County. Francis Taylor, Adam Beatty, John Cambers, James Chambers, James Morris, Vincent Cleseay and John Brown were impowered to raise the lottery of $5,000. The first turnpike Road Companies incorporated were those from Lexington to Louisville and from Lexington to Maysville. This charter was replaced by a second one and three new charters were granted to cover the same distance - from Lexington via Versailles toFrankfort,from Frankfort to Shelbyville, and from Shelbyville to Louisville. Charters were also granted at the same time for turnpike roads (artificial roads of stone) from Louisville to Portland and Shippingport, Lexington towards Boonesborough, Lexington to Georgetown and Georgetown toFranklin - later, in 1819, from Georgetown to Cincinnati. A branch of the national from from Zanesville, OH to Maysville KY and then through the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi to New Orleans was recommended in 1828. The names or locality of all the turnpikes listed by Collins includes the following: Maysville and Lexington, 64 miles. Lexington, Danville and Lancaster, 42 miles. Lexington, Harrodsburg and Perryville, 42 miles. Lexington and Richmond, 25 miles. Lexington, Versailles and Frankfort, 27 miles. Frankfort to Shelbyville, 32 miles. (Frankfort to Hardinsville to Crab Orchard). Frankfort to Georgetown, 12 miles (Lexington to Georgetown, Georgetown to Williamstown, Williamstown to Covington). Maysfille and Gracken,11 miles. Maysville and Mount Sterling, 50 miles. Bardstown to Springfield, 18 miles. Louisville to Bardstown, 39 miles. Bardstown to Glasgow, 69 miles. Glasgow to Tennessee state line, 36 miles. Louisville, via Mouth of Salt River, to Elizabethtown, 43 miles. Elizabethtown to Bell's Tavern (now Park City in Barren Co), 49 miles. Bell's Tavern to Bowling Green, 24 miles. Bowling Green to Tennessee line, 27 miles. Logan, Todd and Christian County, 76 miles. New Market, Lebanon and Washington, 15 miles. Muldrow's Hill and Bridge, 5 miles. Versailles to Kentucky River, 12 miles. State Roads. Before 1835, these roads were ordered by the state to be reviewed or surveyed and opened, normally of the county levy or private subscription. These included (with number 2 and 3 being dirt roads): 1. Crab Orchard and Cumberland Gap 2. Owinsville and Big Sandy 3. Mountsterling and Virginia State Line. 4. Pikeville and Sounding Gap 5. Mouth of Troublesome and Sounding Gap. (c) Copyright 6 July 2000, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved, sgorin@glasgow-ky.com. Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements, Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 Member: Glasgow-Barren Co Chamber of Commerce Publishing: http://members.delphi.com/gorin1/index.html TIPS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios ARCHIVES: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl