There is a road that runs along the eastern border of the Town of Dennis on Cape Cod called Airline Rd. I understand it was there long before the advent of flight. In recent years developers have added roads off Airline Rd in East Dennis called Pilot Dr, Jet Way, Propeller Way, Wing Lane, and Landing Lane but I think their derivation is mistaken. I believe Air Line Rd was named after a common railroad practice of the time (1850s-80s) of building a railroad in a straight line from one city to another. My Grandfather, Leslie R Sears was a mechanical engineer trained at MIT and worked for the New Haven and Hartford railroad and I even have inherited his railroad watch. I wish he was here to ask but I am sure he could confirm my suspicions about Air Line Rd. It just happens that the ancient Sears Cemetery (http://www.searsr.com/searscem/searscemetery.htm) is at the northern terminus of Air Line rd just before it becomes School St on Quivet Neck. Any railroad buffs out there who can certify this speculation? I think we can gain a great deal of genealogical information by examining road names on Cape Cod. I plan to add these names to my Cape Cod Gazetteer (http://www.searsr.com/ccgz/index.asp ) Other sources: http://www.srmduluth.org/Features/gwinnettrail.htm As Atlanta grew in importance, it was natural that railroad advocates would consider building a railroad along a straight line from Atlanta to Charlotte, North Carolina to Richmond, Virginia. Such a railroad route is known as an "Air Line." http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jdevlin/town_hist/chatham_1884_hist .htm The Air Line Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad enters the town on an iron bridge 70 feet in height over the pond of the Cobalt Manufacturing Company, and extends by a circuitous route across the town from west to east. It crosses the valley over Cobalt Brook on a fill 80 feet in height, and, entering what is now known as Great Hill Cut, half a mile in length, and from 15 to 60 feet in depth, swings around to the northward over Muddy Gutter Stream on a fill 60 feet high, enters the village of East Hampton, north of the residence of William E. BARTON, and, crossing the main street, between the Free Methodist Church and the store of C. O. SEARS & Co., and Pine Brook, near the residence of D. W. WATROUS, on iron bridges, enters the cut known as BISHOP's Cut, or HALL's Summit, the highest point of the grade in the town, being something over 400 feet above the level of the river. L. Ray Sears, III LRSears@CapeCod.net

Ray: In the July 1979 issue of the Dennis Historical Society newsletter, the origin of the name of Airline Road is discussed. The editor says the road appears on the 1880 map of the town but is not named. She says Mr. Dean Sears believes it received it's name because it is the shortest route between South Dennis and East Dennis. She said it also might be because of the hills and valleys of the road might make a person airsick. But your theory on it being a railroad term is interesting. If you find anything definitive you might want to let someone, particularly Nancy Thacher Reid, at DHS know! I agree that we can learn a lot by looking at road names on the Cape. My family lived on Ferry Street in West Dennis and never occurred to me they actually operated a ferry there across Bass River until I started reading about Dennis history. Chris Chirokas Westford, MA -----Original Message----- From: Ray Sears [mailto:lrsears@capecod.net] Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 7:44 AM To: MABARNST-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [MaBarnstable] Speculation on the origin of Air Line Rd, East Dennis There is a road that runs along the eastern border of the Town of Dennis on Cape Cod called Airline Rd. I understand it was there long before the advent of flight. In recent years developers have added roads off Airline Rd in East Dennis called Pilot Dr, Jet Way, Propeller Way, Wing Lane, and Landing Lane but I think their derivation is mistaken. I believe Air Line Rd was named after a common railroad practice of the time (1850s-80s) of building a railroad in a straight line from one city to another. My Grandfather, Leslie R Sears was a mechanical engineer trained at MIT and worked for the New Haven and Hartford railroad and I even have inherited his railroad watch. I wish he was here to ask but I am sure he could confirm my suspicions about Air Line Rd. It just happens that the ancient Sears Cemetery (http://www.searsr.com/searscem/searscemetery.htm) is at the northern terminus of Air Line rd just before it becomes School St on Quivet Neck. Any railroad buffs out there who can certify this speculation? I think we can gain a great deal of genealogical information by examining road names on Cape Cod. I plan to add these names to my Cape Cod Gazetteer (http://www.searsr.com/ccgz/index.asp ) Other sources: http://www.srmduluth.org/Features/gwinnettrail.htm As Atlanta grew in importance, it was natural that railroad advocates would consider building a railroad along a straight line from Atlanta to Charlotte, North Carolina to Richmond, Virginia. Such a railroad route is known as an "Air Line." http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jdevlin/town_hist/chatham_1884_hist .htm The Air Line Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad enters the town on an iron bridge 70 feet in height over the pond of the Cobalt Manufacturing Company, and extends by a circuitous route across the town from west to east. It crosses the valley over Cobalt Brook on a fill 80 feet in height, and, entering what is now known as Great Hill Cut, half a mile in length, and from 15 to 60 feet in depth, swings around to the northward over Muddy Gutter Stream on a fill 60 feet high, enters the village of East Hampton, north of the residence of William E. BARTON, and, crossing the main street, between the Free Methodist Church and the store of C. O. SEARS & Co., and Pine Brook, near the residence of D. W. WATROUS, on iron bridges, enters the cut known as BISHOP's Cut, or HALL's Summit, the highest point of the grade in the town, being something over 400 feet above the level of the river. L. Ray Sears, III LRSears@CapeCod.net ==== MABARNST Mailing List ==== Want to post to this list from work or elsewhere? Send a note to the List Administrator, give him the e-mail address you want to add, and ask him to add you to the "Accept List." You will then be able to post from that address without having to subscribe a second time.

Ray Sears wrote: >There is a road that runs along the eastern border of the Town of Dennis on >Cape Cod called Airline Rd. I understand it was there long before the >advent of flight. In recent years developers have added roads off Airline >Rd in East Dennis called Pilot Dr, Jet Way, Propeller Way, Wing Lane, and >Landing Lane but I think their derivation is mistaken. > > > >I believe Air Line Rd was named after a common railroad practice of the time >(1850s-80s) of building a railroad in a straight line from one city to >another. > Hi Ray, You provided two instances of the use of the term airline for railroads which support your belief. I checked the University of Michigan's _Making of America" site of digitized texts from the nineteenth century and found several more instances of "airline" that agree with the usage you mention, but also with the suggestion Chris Chirokas sent. There were specific railroads mentioned--"New York & Boston airline railroad," and "Michigan Airline Railroad" for instance, and I live quite close to an Airline Road named for the Seaboard Airline Railroad which is now part of CSX. The railroads seem to have picked up a usage which meant what we mean by "as the crow flies." Or perhaps they invented it and it spread into general usage--I don't know which. The term "airline distance" was used sometimes, or in this instance the distance by river is compared to a straight line: " ...fifteen miles above Vicksburg, by the course of the current, though the distance in an airline is not more than six miles." An instance of its use as a simple adjective but in relation to a railroad is, "...an airline railroad, running straight through home-lot and garden dwelling, through hill and valley and meadow." So the term "airline," meaning as we would say "as the crow flies," was at least used independently of railroads, though whether it preceded the use by the railroads I could not determine. The railroad that ran down the spine of the cape was the Old Colony Railroad. Whether there was ever an "Airline" railroad there I don't know, but there's an organization called the Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts http://www.massbayrre.org/whow.htm that might be able to help. The information that Chris Chirokas sent, that "it received it's name because it is the shortest route between South Dennis and East Dennis," is perfectly consistent with the usage I saw at the _Making of America_ site, and seems probable to me, but in either case, you seem surely to be correct in that it has nothing to do with airplanes.