Greenville and Raleigh Plank Road
Greenville, Pitt County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Plank Road. The eastern terminus of the Greenville and Raleigh Plank Road, chartered in 1850 and completed to Wilson by 1853, was nearby.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
This spot was the eastern terminus of the Greenville and Raleigh Plank Road, chartered in 1850 and built with wooden planks as far as Wilson by 1853. Plank roads were a brief antebellum craze, promising all-weather travel across the muddy Southern countryside before railroads eclipsed them. Few lasted long, but they briefly knit farm towns to markets.
Why it matters
It represents the short-lived plank-road boom, one step in the antebellum South's search for reliable overland transportation.
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Related events
- · Greenville and Raleigh Plank Road
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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