"S" Bridge
Buffalo Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This stone bridge was part of the National, or Cumberland Road. Originated in 1805, it was completed to Wheeling in 1818. Over it passed countless wagons and stages uniting the East and the growing West.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
This stone bridge carried the National, or Cumberland, Road, the first federally funded highway in the United States. Authorized in 1805 and pushed westward to Wheeling by 1818, the road became the great artery of early national travel. Across spans like this one rolled countless Conestoga wagons and stagecoaches carrying settlers, goods, and mail between the settled East and the growing West.
Why it matters
The National Road knit the young nation together across the mountains, and its surviving bridges stand as monuments to America's first great federal investment in transportation.
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Related events
- ¡ National Road
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
National Road
Buffalo Township, PA ¡ est. 1949
Championed by Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, the National Road was the young nation's first federally funded highway, begun at Cumberland, Maryland, in 1811 and reaching Wheeling on the Ohio River by 1818. It opened a reliable overland artery for settlers, freight, and mail streaming toward the western frontier, and was later maintained as a state-run toll road from 1835 to 1905. Rebuilt in the automobile age, its route survives as U.S. Route 40.
Washington
North Franklin Township, PA ¡ est. 1947
Founded in 1781 by John and William Hoge on the site of the Native Catfish Camp, Washington grew from a frontier plat into a borough (1810) and later a city (1923). Its fortunes were tied to the National Road, the federally built highway that funneled settlers and commerce westward through southwestern Pennsylvania. Named for George Washington, the town became rich in historic buildings and associations as traffic streamed past its doors.
Washington County
Washington, PA ¡ est. 1981
Formed in 1781 from Westmoreland County and named for General George Washington, this southwestern county sat at the heart of frontier unrest. From 1791 to 1794 it became a hotbed of the Whiskey Rebellion, when backcountry farmers rose against a federal excise tax on their distilled grain. The county later straddled the National Road, the great highway that carried the nation west and became U.S. Route 40.
Washington
South Strabane Township, PA ¡ est. 1947
Laid out in 1781 by brothers John and William Hoge, the town of Washington rose on ground long known as the Indian Catfish Camp, a Native gathering place in the Ohio Country borderlands. Chartered as a borough in 1810 and a city in 1923, it became a hub on the National Road â the young republic's great westward artery â and filled with the fine buildings of a thriving crossroads. Its name honored George Washington, whose reputation as a surveyor and soldier had already touched this frontier region.